Middle-aged White Male

2011-08-16T19:44:00.000+12:00

It is not about Loughner or Palin, its about the Republic

2011-01-11T17:22:00.004+13:00

Think back to the 2008 elections. How did Barack Obama, almost a complete unknown, become suddenly elevated to such a position that he could win the Presidency? The mainstream media and the political forces that underwrite Obama worked together and he was elected. A far left socialist mentored by extremists and with a political viewpoint that confronted the idea of American exceptionalism was made President. It was clear to any objective observer that Obama was elected by cultural Marxists to take America down the same road as Europe.

The realisation that Obama was leading an attack on America from within, and that the mainstream media were his troopers, led to the growth of counter forces. First of all, it was recognised that an objective and informative mainstream media no longer existed. It was gone and in its place was a leftist propaganda machine. The forces that arose to counter this perversion of democracy were the internet, talk radio and FOX News cable television. Most important of all, we got the Tea Party, a spontaneous uprising of Constitutional government mainstream Americans. These were the conduits for ideas the left would not otherwise allow into the mainstream.

These ideas were aimed at retaining and reinforcing America’s exceptionalism. They included a return to the importance of Constitutional governance. They emphasized the importance of the Republic. All ideas that run strictly counter to Barack Obama’s ideas for America to become just another social democracy in a UN controlled world. The people who spoke about these things were (among others) Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin and the Tea Party.

The left seethed. There had to be a way for them to silence this strong opposition. To maintain and expand their otherwise complete control of the political debate. The success of the Obama plan, the conversion of the US from a Republic into a European style social democracy, depended upon it. The prize was slipping away.

A madman with a gun killed six people and injured 12 others in Arizona. The leftist propaganda machine leapt to use the event to attack the forces that threaten their control. The same forces that brought Obama from relative obscurity to US President now conspired and acted to bring down those who had become a serious impediment to their plans. The leftist power bloc of Democrats and media blamed Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck and the Tea Partiers.

This is not about Jared Loughner or Sarah Palin anymore. This is a naked display of hostility towards America by traitors who have conspired to destroy the Republic from within. Recent widespread attacks on the Constitution have confirmed it. These traitors are asking that “the violent rhetoric” be stopped. There never was any violent rhetoric, except from them. Especially when they try to smear Conservatives as accessories to murder.

Roger Ailles (FOX News owner) asked that his presenters tone down the rhetoric. He’s wrong. Completely wrong. Because he is allowing traitors to frame the debate. The truth is there needs to be much more said and its needs to be said louder and it needs to be directed at those who are leading the campaign to close down political debate in order to destroy the Republic.

Wake up America. You are being defeated from within. Never has there been a more naked display of treason and treachery as the latest attacks on freedom of political expression and pro-Constitutional forces. You are on the cusp of losing your Republic. If you do not strongly confront the left right now, then you will loose it.

It is not time for toning anything down. It is time to speak louder and stronger and to step up to the plate and take your country back from a fifth column of traitors and treasonists who have converted the mainstream media and the Democrat Party into an insidious un-American force for evil. You absolutely must repel this force if you wish to retain your Republic. Do not under any circumstances, tone down your resistance. Rather, you must redouble your efforts.

By Redbaiter at TrueblueNZ

http://truebluenz.wordpress.com/2011/01/11/it-is-not-about-loughner-or-palin-its-about-the-republic/#comment-1235

For the Gantt Guy

2010-12-22T10:50:00.001+13:00

Charlize....an angel of devine beauty.

Gratuitous Totty

2010-10-17T12:50:00.002+13:00

Corrupt, corrupt, corrupt.

2010-10-17T12:21:00.008+13:00

R44bn disappears

Three of the country's provincial education departments cannot explain what they did with more than R44-billion allocated to them in the past financial year.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article705988.ece/R44bn-disappears

Most of the Education budget, R123bn, is allocated to the 9 provinces. The office of the Auditor General has stated that, of the nine, only three of the country's provincial education departments were given clean audits for the 2009-2010 financial year.

That R44bn could buy a lot of health care, housing and infrastructure maintenance and development.

South Africa 100 years old

2010-06-01T11:10:00.005+12:00

On 31st May 1910 the Union of South Africa came into existence.

In the aftermath of the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), Britain annexed the South African Republic and the Orange Free State, two hitherto independent Afrikaner Republics, and renamed them the Transvaal Colony and the Orange River Colony respectively. They were added to Britain's existing South African territories, the Cape Colony and Colony of Natal.

The Union of these British Colonies was the result of nine years of negotiations and represented a great victory for peacemaking following the destructive and bitter war. This Union was created by the passage of The South Africa Act of 1909 by the British Parliament. A bicameral parliament was created, consisting of a House of Assembly and Senate, and its members were elected mostly by the country's white minority.

This Act, which essentially brought into being the South African state as it is known today, served as the South African constitution until 1961, when South Africa became a Republic and left the Commonwealth. The basic structure of the 1909 Act continued to live on in its replacement, the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act (1961).

This was again replaced by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act (1983) in which a tricameral Paliament was constituted, essentially done to give the Indian and Coloured (mixed race) population the vote. The Black population were to exercise their vote through independent Black States created on a tribal basis.

Following the unbanning of the ANC and the PAC, and the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990, in a referendum held on March 17, 1992 the white electorate voted 68% in favour of dismantling apartheid through negotiations.

After protracted negotiations under the auspices of the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA), a draft contitution appeared on 26 July 1993, containing concessions towards all sides: a federal system of regional legislaturs, equal voting-rights regardless of race, and a bicameral legislature. In April 1994 the South African population voted in the first universal sufferage general election.

In 1996, after considerable debate, and following submissions from advocacy groups, individuals and ordinary citizens, the Parliament enacted a new Constitution and a Bill of Rights.

The killing of Eugène Terre'Blanche

2010-04-10T10:12:00.004+12:00

If you want to understand the ramifications of the murder the AWB leader Eugène Terre'Blanche (ET), this release by the SAIRR will put it, and the current state of the political scene in SA, in perspective.

ET was a racist who had a very small following and who had the unrealistic ideal of a separate Afrikaner or Boer 'homeland'. However the tension between the races in SA has been increased over the last few weeks by the president of the ANC Youth League's continual use of the song 'Kill the Boer'. This was taken to Court where it was ruled to be hate speech. Subsequently the ANC came out in defense of its use.

The SAIRR was an ardent critic of the 'Apartheid' government.

The South African Institute of Race Relations Press release

The Institute desisted from issuing a formal statement in the immediate aftermath of the killing of Mr Terre'Blanche in order to first gauge the broader social, political, and international reaction to the killing. The Institute is now in a position to make the following points.

Racial tensions in the country appear to have increased significantly in recent weeks. This appears to be chiefly as a result of incitement by the ruling African National Congress to ‘shoot and kill’ the Afrikaner ethnic minority in the country. The anxiety around this incitement may well have influenced opinions across the broader white community. What appears to be the case is that much of the racial rapprochement that characterised the first 15 years of South Africa’s democracy is being undone. This rapprochement saw both black and white South Africans come to occupy a middle ground on race relations upon which the maintenance of future stable race relations depends.

Since 1994 the number of white farmers and their families murdered in South Africa is conservatively put at around 1 000. It may very well be much higher. There are currently an estimated 40 000 commercial farmers in the country. Over this same period in the region 250 000 South Africans out of a total current population of approximately 47 million have been murdered. Criminal violence can therefore be described as ‘rampant’ and has done considerable damage to the social fabric of the country. However, this is not to say that all murders in the country are a function of simple criminal banditry. In an environment where law and order has largely collapsed the consequences of incitement by political leaders to commit murder must be taken seriously.

Over the same period the policy measures put in place by the Government to raise the living standards of the black majority have failed to meet expectations. The key interventions of affirmative action and black economic empowerment have been exploited by the African National Congress to build a network of patronage that has made elements of its leadership extremely wealthy. The party also appears to have been so overwhelmed by corrupt tendencies that it is no longer able to act decisively against corrupt behaviour.

It has also through incompetence and poor policy been unable to address failures in the education system which are now the primary factor retarding the economic advancement of black South Africans.

At the same time the party is acutely aware that its support base of poor black South Africans has begun to turn against it. Violent protest action against the ruling party is now commonplace around the country.

In order to shore up support in the black community the ANC increasingly appears to be seeking to shift the blame for its delivery failures onto the small white ethnic minority, which today comprises well under 10% of the total population ofSouth Africa. Here parallels may be read to the behaviour of Zanu-PF in Zimbabwe when that party realised that its political future was in peril. The ANC Youth League’s recent visit to Zanu-PF which saw it endorse that party’s ruinous polices are pertinent here.

In such an environment it is plausible to consider that the ANC’s exhortations to violence may be a contributing factor to the killing of Mr Terre'Blanche. Certainly the ANC’s protestations to the contrary seem ridiculous as the party is in effect saying that its followers pay no attention to what it says - this from a party that routinely claims that it is the manifestation of the will of all black South Africans. This is not to say that a labour dispute or some other matter could not have inflamed tensions on the Terre'Blanche farm. Rather it is to say that a number of different matters should be considered in determining the motivation for the crime.

Certainly the ANC’s exhortations to violence have created a context where the killings of white people will see a degree of suspicion falling around the party and its supporters.

It is of concern therefore that the police’s senior management are on record as saying that they will not consider a political motive or partial motive for the killing of MrTerre'Blanche. This suggests an early effort to cover up the ANC’s possible culpability for inciting the crime.Should any allegations of a political cover-up arise in the pending murder trial of the two young men accused of the Terre'Blanche murder the political consequences could be significant.

Should evidence be led that the two young men acted with what they understood to be the tacit backing of the ANC, and a causal link between their actions and incitement by the ANC be established, then the possibility of charging the ANC’s senior leadership in connection to the murder arises. Equally plausible is that the Terre'Blanche family and the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging could bring a civil suit against the ANC and the Government.

It is possible that the killing of Mr Terre'Blanche will greatly strengthen the hand of a new hardened right wing in South Africa. In life Mr Terre'Blanche attracted a small, uninfluential, and extremist following. He will not be mourned for what he stood for. However, in death he may come to represent the experiences of scores of minority groups in the country who perceive themselves as being on the receiving end of racist and now also violent abuse from the ANC. In effect therefore MrTerre'Blanche may be seen as having been martyred for a minority cause in the country.

The implications of a resurgent right wing will be numerous. It is most unlikely that this right wing will take the form of camouflage clad henchmen on horses in shows of force. The ANC has also often, wrongly, identified groups including the political opposition, Afriforum, agricultural unions, and even this Institute as ‘the right wing’. This silly ‘red under every bed’ attitude in the ANC saw it lose the trust of many civil society and political groups. These groups could all be defined first and foremost by the common belief that they had to act within the bounds of what the Constitution prescribed.

But the ANC belittled and undermined them. It also undermined parliament, the national prosecution service, and the various human rights and other organisations that were established under the Constitution. It may yet usurp the independence of the courts and the judiciary. The result was a shutting down of many of the democratic channels that were created for citizens in the country to make the Government aware of their concerns and circumstances.

The resurgence of a new political consciousness among minorities could drive an altogether different political force. Such a movement will draw its strength chiefly from a hardening attitudes in the white community but perhaps also in the Indian and coloured communities. These will be views that in the main have come to subscribe to some or all of the following points:

1. That the Government has corrupted and debilitated many of the country’s internal democratic processes for political or civil expression that were established under the Constitution

2. That cooperation with the current Government of South Africa is therefore fundamentally unfeasible and therefore futile

3. That the Government is unable to restore law and order in the country

4. That the Government is therefore unable protect its citizens

5. That the Government has a hostile agenda against minority groups

However it is equally, if not most likely, that many minorities who subscribe to the five points above may simply get so fed up that those who can will pack up and go. Here they may take the advice of President Zuma to remain calm as they pack up their businesses and their families and calmly board aircraft for Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, and Great Britain. With the exodus will leave much of the tax and expertise base of the country.

Should the ANC, however, find itself facing increased political resistance it will in many respects have a tiger by the tail. Firstly, the ANC depends greatly on the tax income paid by white South Africans to balance South Africa’s books. Secondly, it depends entirely on the food produced by a small number of white farmers to feed the country. Thirdly, white South Africans still dominate the skills base of the country. Finally, and most importantly, much white opinion since the early 1990s has been moderate. White South Africa has been willing and often eager to cooperate with the Government in building an open, non-racial, and prosperous South Africa. Losing that cooperation will to an extent put an end to any serious chance that the ANC has of leading South Africa to become a successful and prosperous democracy.

While the ANC will be inclined to blame whites for this, and may even take drastic action to confiscate white commercial interests as they are currently doing in agriculture, these actions will be ruinous for the economy. The result of such ruin will be to drive a deeper wedge between the ANC and its traditional support base and thereby hasten the political decay of the party.

When General Constand Viljoen decided to throw his lot in with democracy in the early 1990s the right wing in South Africa was a spent force. So it should and could have remained. The ANC could have taken advantage of white expertise and tax revenue to realise their own vision of a better life for all. Things have however gone badly wrong for the party. Corruption has destroyed its ability to meet the demands of its constituents while racial bigotry has now seen it defending its image against what should have been an insignificant and dying neo-Nazi faction in the country.

The failure of sensible South Africans to take back the racial middle ground in the country will be serious. Polarisation will beget further racial conflict and a hardening of attitudes on all sides. This is perhaps the greatest leadership test that the current Government has faced and it is one that they cannot afford to fail.

Totty of the Day

2010-01-28T13:03:00.005+13:00

Just because I'm a lazy sh*t and have not posted much for a while, for the two readers of my blog a bit of fluff so that your visit here has not been a complete waste.

In case you hadn't worked it out, it's Charlize (again).

The Rainbow Nation

2010-01-09T15:13:00.001+13:00

Yet another excellent cartoon stolen from Jonathan Shapiro - aka Zapiro

Lefty liars

2009-04-30T09:08:00.004+12:00

Since leaving my post as CIA director almost three years ago, I have remained largely silent on the public stage. I am speaking out now because I feel our government has crossed the red line between properly protecting our national security and trying to gain partisan political advantage. We can't have a secret intelligence service if we keep giving away all the secrets. Americans have to decide now.

A disturbing epidemic of amnesia seems to be plaguing my former colleagues on Capitol Hill.......

......... I am slack-jawed to read that members claim to have not understood that the techniques on which they were briefed were to actually be employed; or that specific techniques such as "waterboarding" were never mentioned.

Porter J. Goss - director of the CIA from September 2004 to May 2006 and was chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence from 1997 to 2004.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/24/AR2009042403339.html

Remember to wash your hands...

2009-04-28T13:15:00.000+12:00

Gratuitous Totty For The Day

2009-04-25T13:11:00.002+12:00

South Africa's President-in-waiting

2009-04-25T11:39:00.007+12:00

"Those that stand in opposition to me or my party are evil and must be opposed; for they stand not only in opposition to us but in opposition to God, who has appointed and blessed us as his representatives here on earth.

Thus, my party will remain in power forever and it will not subscribe to the will of mortal men, because it rules by divine right and, therefore, until the end of time and at God's grace.

Nevertheless, those who would oppose me or my party cannot be allowed to govern, irrespective of the broader democratic will, and we must stand together to prevent this from happening".

- Jacob Zuma

"For when it has once come to that point that the citizens and the magistrates are afraid to offend him and his adherents, it will afterwards not require much effort on his part to make them render judgments and attack persons according to his will."

- Niccolo Machiavelli, commentator, on Jacob Zuma after escaping charges of fraud.

"I will kill for him".

- Julius Malema, President of the ANCYL, threatening those who do not support Zuma.

Farewell to Democracy in Africa. This man, this thug, will be anointed with the Presidency of South Africa by Parliament.

At this stage of the counting of the vote, the ANC looks as though it has failed to reach the 2/3rds majority needed to be able to change the Constitution so acrimoniously negotiated before the handover of power by white South Africans. But this will not make one jot of difference to this man, or the Party, who does not believe the law applies to him and who swats it aside without the least bit of concern.

This is a man who stands accused of 750 accounts of fraud, a man who has fought tooth and nail - and used his excessive political power as the President of the ANC - to ensure that he does not have to stand up and defend himself in court.

This is a man who was accused of rape, and found not guilty, who many commentators think was extremely lucky to escape the charges.

This is a man who turned his back on the parents of Thami Zulu, a senior commander of Umkhonto weSizwe, who died of poisoning soon after being released after being imprisoned in Zambia for suspicion of being a Apartheid spy by the Zuma lead ANC Counter Intelligence Unit. This death was never investigated by the controversial Sachs (a long-standing ANC member and supporter) Commission.

This is the man as a leader of the ANC's Mbokodo was responsible for the suppression by torture, imprisonment and public executions of the mutiny by over 90 percent of its Umkhonto weSizwe cadres in Angola.

This is the man who was a member of Central Committee of the South African Communist Party.

This is the man who received his political education in Moscow, and from Govan Mbeki, an avowed Stalinist, and Harry Gwala, a Marxist-Leninist who is thought to be the person behind the massacres of the opposition Inkatha party supporters in kwa-Zulu in the lead up to the 'First Democratic Elections' in South Africa.

This is the man who received his 'military' training at the hands of the Stasi in East Germany.

And this is the man that, backed by the SACP and the Congress of South African Trade Unions, is the populist choice, a man promising a redistribution of wealth.

In the immortal words of Alan Paton "Cry The Beloved Country".

The Voice of Reason

2009-04-01T20:50:00.004+13:00

Amid the panic of the hour, with governments creating, borrowing and spending money like drunken sailors, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has emerged as the conscience of the developed world.

....(S)he is standing like a rock in the tempest, urging people to be prudent.

....Of all the leaders participating in this week's G-20 meeting in London, she is the only one who has reminded us of the origins of the current troubles and why the remedy favored by most governments is dangerous. "It happened because we were living beyond our means. ... After the Asian crisis and after 9/11, governments encouraged risk taking in order to boost growth" by dumping ever-cheaper money into the financial system.

....One would think that Merkel is speaking from the comfort of a country that is being spared much of the punishment that others are receiving. Actually, as the world's No. 1 exporter, Germany's economy is on course to contract by 4.5 percent this year. No economy will be more affected than Germany's, in absolute terms, by the 9 percent drop in international trade forecast by the International Monetary Fund.

This is one tough lady who has her head screwed on the right way. I hope that she voices her opinion in the strongest terms possible.

Hat tip to RealClearPolitics

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/04/angela_merkel_voice_of_reason.html

2009-03-25T21:25:00.001+13:00

"Just another twelve zeros tossed on the Obama bonfire of American wealth." -- Mark Steyn

http://www.steynonline.com/

Red Shoes

2009-03-20T19:18:00.000+13:00

.. in bed?

A Bit of Fun

2009-03-20T19:05:00.003+13:00

Sound familiar?

Thanks BB, it had me rolling on the floor.

Cartoon

2009-03-20T18:25:00.001+13:00

Thanks to Theo at Last of the Few for this. I couldn't agree more.

2009-03-18T13:05:00.001+13:00

Socialism - the Obama Creed

2009-03-18T11:14:00.010+13:00

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/03/my_socialist_past.html

This excellent article at American Thinker is well worth a read.

It certainly parallels the path that Helen Clark and her Labour government were leading us down and how fortunate we are to have ridded ourselves of this evil scourge.

The United Staes of America are not so fortunate.

The writer, Jeffrey Folkes, has first-hand knowledge of the socialist state haveng lived in communist Yugoslavia in the '80's.

Anyone who has lived inside the demoralized, unproductive, gray prison of a communist state, .......... knows to what depths of impoverishment the egalitarian fantasies of socialism inevitably lead.

He highlights how the resultant poverty, lack of good food and poor state-run healthcare with a lifetime of untreated disease leads to early death.

But it does not begin like that.

Every totalitarian regime begins with the same heartfelt promises of justice and equality, just those promises of fairness that Barack Obama has made the fixation of his political career. What tyrant, one might ask, has not risen to power on promises of benevolent change?

But they soon find out that..

.......... for all men to be made equal, some men must be made poor, and most men will not agree to be(ing) made poor in the absence of force. So force must be applied, assets must be seized, censorship must be imposed, dissidents must be jailed, enemies must be destroyed. Men must be made equal by any means necessary, and soon enough those means include intimidation, imprisonment, and execution.

....

and disproportionate taxation of the productive citizens to..

At the heart of the ideal of fairness,.... is the fundamental mistake that all workers -- not just all workers, but all human beings, including those who simply choose not to work -- should be equally rewarded, regardless of effort and ability.

And so socialism stifles talent and ambition.

It is no accident that socialism always fails. It fails because of its fundamental assumption that self-interest can be suppressed in human relations. Socialism fails every time because of the arrogant lie upon which it rests. In the depths of his black heart, perhaps even Stalin suspected that Marxist economics was a lie, but he was willing to remove twelve million souls from his worker's paradise to suppress that doubt

So what does Obama and the Democrats have in mind for America?

As astounding as it may seem, ........ socialism remains the dream of the American Left, and it is exactly what we are getting with the Democrats now in control of the White House and Congress. In one form or another, we will have socialized medicine, with its callous specter of long waiting lists or outright denials for life-saving operations and drugs. In one form or another, we will see government control of the energy industry, and with it ever higher prices for fuel and electricity.

.......federal expenditures will rise from the current 20% to 25% of GDP, funded by a combination of ruinous debt and higher taxes.

......stealth taxes, such as the annual trillion dollar "cap and trade" tax planned...

.....(

To address)

what Democrats like to call "income disparity", massive new taxation will rob trillions of dollars from skilled, hardworking individuals and redistribute it to less hardworking or less skilled persons, to say nothing of the underclass of drug addicts, prostitutes, and shiftless losers who will claim their outsized share of new "benefits."

He highlights the thinking of the Left with...

In the liberal imagination, the poor

(and those of a darker hue?)

have special rights that extend far beyond the inalienable rights of the average citizen. The simple assertion of belonging to "the poor" confers the right of victimhood with all the perks of sympathy, support, welfare, and exculpatory excuse-making that go with it.

The poor, the working class, working families, single moms ....... all of these worthy classes are entitled not just to encouragement, charity, and welfare, but to elevation above and beyond the rest of the pharisaical population. They deserve advancement to the front of the line.

And as for the chardonnay swilling, academic leeches....

The odd thing about socialism of this sort is that it is always supported by many among the very class who are to be sent back to the end of the line.

What they gain is the pleasing aura of their own role as patrons within a world in which there exists a cheaply purchased sufficiency for all and in which they themselves are fêted for dreaming it up. They have managed to grow up without ever laboring or producing any object of use and yet, as a result of the overabundance of the world they have inherited, they are able to extend a middle-class sufficiency to all those who wish to claim it. They expect, of course, to remain a great deal above the masses of the poor, but at the same time to enjoy the well wishes of all they encounter. What could be more pleasant?

But the dream cannot last.

Quite early in the game, one finds that the wealth of nations cannot be equally distributed to all who appear with claim checks without inflating the currency. Some seem to assume that there exists a depthless bucket of cash, which can be distributed year after year as one stimulus after another and that this magical bucket of cash will create or save millions of jobs and drive consumption indefinitely.

The pernicious fantasy of the Left is that debt can mount to any level, repayment can be postponed indefinitely, and the bucket can continue to be raided in ever greater amounts with no consequences.

(Does this sound like our own recently ejected fiscal fool?)

And Barack - "at a time like this, we cannot be concerned about deficits"

On welfarism..

When will the liberal elite come to understand that welfare in every form, from cash handouts for "the poor" to exculpatory sympathy for an "oppressed" criminal class, simply reinforces failure on the part of individuals who might otherwise improve their lot? Every attempt to act as our brother's keeper, apart from decent and limited, discrete acts of charity -- charity that admits the inescapable reality of suffering but not the reified condition of victimhood -- ends by promoting the very vices that we wish to remediate.

The "solution" to poverty is not to subsidize those who are poor but to allow them to feel the effects of poverty until such time as they are motivated to work... Few who have escaped poverty by honest work ever return to it.

The threat to personal liberty.

The greatest danger is the threat to personal liberty that is posed by an ever larger and more centralized government.

.....with the proliferation of new regulation, new legislation ..

.....an ever widening definition of "hate speech," ....

.....forced acceptance of government "services," ...

...propaganda .. now broadcast through every mainstream media source and taught in every public school...

and

...Government intimidation of opposition.

Of change that we can believe in, the New Testament of the second coming.

Every communist regime in history has begun its rule with sweeping confiscations of private wealth and widespread nationalization of industry. How does this differ from Democratic proposals for government regulation and confiscation within the health care, financial services, and energy industries, or from their plan eventually to institute a four trillion dollar tax increase...

If the Democrats have their way, America will become the world's largest socialist economy at the very moment when the rest of the world, even the welfare states of western Europe, have begun to repudiate socialism.

4 Weeks of........

2009-02-14T22:01:00.000+13:00

John Key

2009-02-04T21:05:00.004+13:00

I continue to believe that our Prime Minister, John Key, is a man of remarkable talent. In this speech to the Waitakere Enterprise Business Club he has shown to me his ability to separate the chaff from the wheat. He has not resorted to base politiking and yet has somehow created a political vision as to where he can lead this country, and make it a winning economy, during these times of financial despair.

He has also chosen not to dismantle our welfare systems at a time when they are most needed. Although I despise 'welfarism' and its social effects and the dehumanisation of its recipents, I think that a certain level is necesary to support those most affected by adverse conditions. I do not condone those who use it to fund a life of non contribution to society.

I have copied the most of the speech below.

We live in challenging times.

It’s been more than a year since the first tales of financial ruin started to trickle out of Wall Street. What started as a trickle has gathered momentum. Each week we are being met with more bad news about the state of the global financial and economic system.

There can be no doubt that these waves of bad news have darkened New Zealand’s economic outlook. We are a small open economy and our fortunes rise and fall with those of the wider global economy.

The IMF predicts that global growth this year could be the weakest we have seen since World War II. And, even worse from New Zealand’s perspective, it predicts that the advanced economies, which make up most of our trading partners, will shrink by 2 per cent.

The resulting forecasts for our economy are sobering. Falling growth rates. Lower commodity prices. Falling demand for our exports. Rising unemployment.

I know that some in this room are already feeling the effects of these global events, while others will be worried for their prospects in the months ahead.

I share your concerns. We are certainly facing a tough couple of years ahead.
But let me be clear from the outset. I am confident that we will get through these tough times together. The New Zealand economy will recover strongly.

As Prime Minister, I have made that recovery the number one priority of my Government, and all my Ministers are working towards that goal.

Later on in this speech I will announce a series of initiatives designed to provide some relief to the small and medium-sized Kiwi businesses that will play such an important role in that recovery.

Before I do so, let me outline how this package fits in with our wider Jobs and Growth Plan for the economy.

The Government’s Jobs and Growth Plan is about keeping the economy running as strongly as possible, easing the sharpest impacts of the recession and preparing our economy for future growth. In support of this plan, and in light of the deteriorating global economic situation, we have already taken several steps aimed at protecting Kiwis’ jobs and financial security.

To recap.

We have overseen the introduction of retail deposit and wholesale funding guarantees.
These are designed to maintain the liquidity of the financial system, and to ensure our economy can continue to function.

We are carefully watching the operation of these schemes to ensure they are working. We are also keeping a close eye on the banks to ensure that large cuts in official interest rates are passed onto everyday Kiwis.

Secondly, we have moved to lessen the impact of unexpected job losses through the introduction of our ReStart package. This package, introduced before Christmas, will provide extra support to those hit hard by redundancy, and it will lessen the shock of sudden job losses.

Thirdly, we have passed legislation to introduce extensive personal tax reductions on 1 April this year. These tax reductions will help New Zealanders make ends meet and reward their hard work even as international conditions worsen. They will inject considerable stimulus into the economy.

Fourthly, we will add to that stimulus with a series of fast-tracked Government building projects. These will keep more New Zealanders working as the international crisis hits home.
I will announce details of these projects next week. They are specific projects that were chosen because they are worthwhile and can be geared-up quickly. They will employ Kiwis with diggers, hammers and spades in regions throughout New Zealand. And in turn they will help keep suppliers and sub-contractors, shopkeepers and sales staff in business.

Larger, longer-term infrastructure projects will also be announced in the coming months.

The combined effect of this infrastructure spending, together with tax reductions, will mean that New Zealand will experience a fiscal stimulus amongst the top five in the developed world, when compared on a relative basis. That stimulus package will help keep our economy ticking over even as global demand falls, and it will help many businesses and families keep their heads above water.

In addition to these measures, three weeks from now I will be hosting a Jobs Summit.
This will bring together industry, business and other employment experts, including training providers, iwi and unions, and will be designed to harvest practical ideas for keeping people in jobs and helping them to find new jobs.

I will ask the participants at the summit to leave their ideology at the door, and to instead focus on what will work for everyday Kiwis.

I will ask them to think about what actions they can take to keep their fellow New Zealanders employed.

And I will ask them to come to the table in a positive and collaborative spirit with the intent of agreeing on concrete, achievable measures.

The resulting ideas will feed into the Government’s next steps in what I like to call our rolling maul of Jobs and Growth initiatives.

The Government will remain open-minded on future steps that may be required as economic conditions worsen over the next few months. I am very conscious however that steps taken today to stave off the international crisis should not be devised in such a way as to undermine the economy in the years ahead.

There is a balance to be struck.

We simply must ensure that decisions taken now neither undermine the future prosperity of our country nor diminish the opportunities available to this and future generations of New Zealanders.

Because despite the wishes of some commentators and despite the gloom on the horizon, my Government won’t lose sight of our determination to make a lasting difference to the lives of New Zealanders, now and in years to come.

That means rejecting some of the alarmist suggestions that will be made to us.

It means being careful, and making decisions in a disciplined way.

And it means avoiding the temptation to spend any amount whatsoever, without regard to the trade-offs that expenditure may have for the future of New Zealand. We simply must weigh up the fiscal costs of initiatives we take now against what those costs will mean for the Government books in the longer-term. Because I know, and you know, that if we borrow excessively to look after the taxpayers of today, we will end up saddling our children with a mountain of government debt.

In the more immediate future the prospect of an excessive level of debt would swiftly bring a downgrade from credit agencies, leading to higher interest rates and lower growth rates into the future.

So we need to be sure that the decisions we make now really hit the mark.

You can be confident then that over the next two years, as times get tougher, my Government will continue to act responsibly, because we know that a short-term sugar- fix today could lead to a diet of debt later.

While we must be careful we can also take heart that the economic situation presents some real opportunities.

When it comes to the recession we need a dose of reality but we also need a dollop of confidence. During this global downturn, we can work to improve the performance of our economy relative to other countries, and we can emerge better off.

That’s the second, longer-term goal of the Government’s Jobs and Growth Plan.

It’s about improving the fundamentals of our economy. A tax structure that rewards hard work. Reform of the Resource Management Act to allow people to do more things. Reducing the red-tape that saps initiative and good ideas.

It’s about policies that will future-proof our economy and set us up for a strong recovery.
These include our “Build New Zealand” proposals to future-proof our country with investments in roads, public transport, schools, housing and broadband. When our economy starts to recover we don’t want New Zealand to be constrained by inadequate transport networks and essential facilities. We want to be ready to grab opportunities for growth.

It also includes our “Frontline Services” policies to improve public services by getting more out of existing resources. Because just as the days of cheap and easy credit are gone, so too are the days of Governments being able to spend ever more without being accountable for results. Getting better value for taxpayer dollars is part of the day-to-day business of my Government. We will run a value-for-money ruler over everything we do.

We will also pursue “Education for Success” policies to tackle the long tail of underachievement in our schools. Because the future prospects of our economy depend on each and every Kiwi being able to make a skilled contribution.

These are the policies I campaigned on and they are policies I am committed to implementing.
Furthermore, they are policies that will play a critical role in supporting jobs and growth in the long-term. They are about ensuring that steps taken to improve our economy today can endure in the decades ahead.

USS New York made from steel from World Trade Centre

2009-02-02T19:19:00.008+13:00

Here SHE is, the USS New York, made from the World Trade Centre!

USS New York It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Centre.It is the fifth in a new class of warship - designed for missions that include special operations against terrorists. It will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft.

Steel from the World Trade Centre was melted down in a foundry in Amite, LA to cast the ship's bow section. When it was poured into the moulds on Sept 9, 2003, 'those big rough steelworkers treated it with total reverence,' recalled Navy Capt. Kevin Wensing, who was there. 'It was a spiritual moment for everybody there.' Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the trade centre steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the 'hair on my neck stood up.' 'It had a big meaning to it for all of us,' he said. 'They knocked us down. They can't keep us down. We're going to be back.

'The ship's motto? - 'Never Forget'.

Thanks to Doberman at I Luv SA

And to Scottkoen who has taken this magnificent pics. You can see more at http://www.ussnewyork.com/

Bush Hatred and Obama Euphoria Are Two Sides of the Same Coin

2009-02-01T19:22:00.014+13:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123336391229335459.html

In an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal

Peter Berkowitz writes:-

Hatred of Mr. Bush went well beyond the partisan broadsides typical of democratic politics. For years it disfigured its victims with open, indeed proud, loathing for the very manner in which Mr. Bush walked and talked. It compelled them to denounce the president and his policies as not merely foolish or wrong or contrary to the national interest, but as anathema to everything that made America great.

And the MSM and in particular newspapers like the New York Times, television stations such as CNN can hang their heads in shame.

In contrast, the euphoria surrounding Mr. Obama's run for president conferred upon the candidate immunity from criticism despite his newness to national politics and lack of executive experience, and regardless of how empty his calls for change...

This just shows how easily the public can be lead to believe what the media want it to believe!

In fact, Bush hatred and Obama euphoria -- which tend to reveal more about those who feel them than the men at which they are directed -- are opposite sides of the same coin. Both represent the triumph of passion over reason. Both are intolerant of dissent. Those wallowing in Bush hatred and those reveling in Obama euphoria frequently regard those who do not share their passion as contemptible and beyond the reach of civilized discussion. Bush hatred and Obama euphoria typically coexist in the same soul...

Souls that are so readily found amongst the bloated egos of the overpaid, under cerebrated 'celebrities' who believe the world holds its breath for their next 'original' pronouncement.

Bush hatred and Obama euphoria are particularly toxic because they thrive in and have been promoted by the news media, whose professional responsibility, it has long been thought, is to gather the facts and analyze their significance, and by the academy, whose scholarly training, it is commonly assumed, reflects an aptitude for and dedication to systematic study and impartial inquiry...

Media who have now been shown to lack impartiality, to even lie, and who are continually being exposed by determined bloggers.

Some will speculate that the outbreak of hatred and euphoria in our politics is the result of the transformation of left-liberalism into a religion, its promulgation as dogma by our universities, and students' absorption of their professors' lesson of immoderation...

Left-liberalism is Marxism by stealth.

...by assembling and maintaining faculties that think alike about politics and think alike that the university curriculum must instill correct political opinions, our universities cultivate intellectual conformity and discourage the exercise of reason in public life. ...they infuse a certain progressive interpretation of our freedom and equality with sacred significance, zealously requiring not only outward obedience to its policy dictates but inner persuasion of the heart and mind. This transforms dissenters into apostates or heretics, and leaders into redeemers.

..and our Universities have been taken over by Marxists.

..Bush hatred may weaken as the 43rd president minds his business back home in Texas, and while Obama euphoria may fade as the 44th president is compelled to immerse himself in the daunting ambiguities of power, our universities will continue to educate students to believe that hatred and euphoria reflect political wisdom.

...and Obama is going to screw up big time.

Okay girls....

2009-01-14T16:33:00.005+13:00

..don' fuss. I promise that I will come up to bed once I've finshed just this last blog....really I will...

In defence of Israel

2009-01-10T13:11:00.008+13:00

No one can condone the civilian suffering in Gaza of the past two weeks. Nor should anyone doubt who is, in the end, responsible

The pictures do not lie. Laser-guided but blind to the distinction between fighter and civilian, Israeli bombs have reduced schools, apartment blocks and police parade grounds to visions of hell. Aid workers and relatives have removed bodies and pieces of bodies, and survivors too traumatised to talk. On Boxing Day: at least 50 cadets killed at Gaza City's main police station alone. On Monday: reports, not denied by Israel, of phosphorus shells used over civilian neighbourhoods. On Tuesday: 40 children and teachers found dead in the wreckage of a school. And yesterday: reports of up to 30 more children killed in a house to which Israeli troops had moved them for their own safety.

For all Israel's claims to have launched only targeted strikes on Hamas targets, it has shown scant concern for civilians caught in Gaza's crossfire in the past two weeks. Yet this is as nothing next to the contempt shown by Hamas.

Unlike the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), the paramilitary overlords of the Gaza Strip use civilians routinely for protection in the knowledge that many will be sacrificed to Israeli airstrikes.

Unlike the IDF, they deliberately target civilians with their own rockets. At least 70 such rockets were launched from Gaza into Israel in December.

This was the criminal act that triggered the current crisis. It was as simple and blatant as the history of the Holy Land is complex, and every time that bewildered Gazans are corralled by Hamas fighters into a human shield, it is compounded by rank cowardice.

Israel is an expression of outrage at the Holocaust and defiance of those who would turn a blind eye to history. It is also a country that in 60 years has justified its statehood by defending itself against those who deny its right to exist, preserving its democracy even when this has led it into diplomatic isolation, and building an economy that is the envy of the Middle East.

The same can scarcely be said of Hamas. Where Fatah at least speaks the language of negotiation, Hamas has explicitly rejected a two-state solution. It exists chiefly to promote a nihilistic doctrine of self-defence through terror, and to foster a delusional pan-Islamism with no tolerance for unbelievers, let alone a Jewish state.

Israel has a powerful ally in the United States. Its critics are wont to condemn this alliance as a Jewish axis blind to heart-rending realities in Gaza and to the sacrifices necessary for peace. No one can be unmoved by the suffering witnessed by the Norwegian surgeon who texted friends to tell them “we're wading in death, blood [and] amputees”.

But the way to end it is not to abandon Israel. It is to defeat Hamas. As Washington contemplates an opening to Iran, its reluctance to condemn Israel is not ideological but rational. The alternative would be to open talks with Tehran while its proxy in Gaza still threatened much of Israel with Iranian-built rockets.

The Vatican has failed unequivocally to disavow Cardinal Renato Martino's remarks likening Gaza to a concentration camp. It should know better. Those who join Annie Lennox and Ken Livingstone in Hyde Park tomorrow to condemn what they consider Israel's disproportionate response should, likewise, know that Israel is at war - but with a non-state organisation that depends on just such a response to bolster its flagging support among the Palestinian people.

Israel is better than its enemies. That is why the world expects better when children and civilians die under its ordnance. The past two weeks' fighting have damaged it internationally and will have radicalised some Palestinians. But it has also sent the essential message that Hamas is no partner for negotiations, much less for peace. The bitter lesson of this war is that Hamas cannot be allowed to win.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article5484881.ece

The Times gets it almost perfect. I just disagree with the bit about the Norwegian doctor. He is a fraud and has been involved in fake 'atrocity' photos.

The bold is mine.

MMmmmmnnnnn...........

2009-01-05T22:14:00.002+13:00

J.H. Pierneef ( 1886 - 1957 )

2008-12-25T02:45:00.003+13:00

Karibib - SWA

A Time of Peace and Goodwill

2008-12-24T14:11:00.004+13:00

Figures released by the KwaZulu-Natal Health Department show that during the first 18days of December:-

- 1 722 people were assaulted

- 111 people sustained gunshot wounds

- 493 people were stabbed

- 282 raped. Forty nine of the victims were children.

- 118 suicides

- 1 008 vehicle accidents

- 17 drownings

- 139 burn incidents.

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-12-22-over-1nbsp722-assaulted-111-shot-in-kzn

Phew, and not one white-on-black assault or the world media would have been beating up on racist white South Africans again.

These shosking figures were recorded before the tradesmen go on holiday and businesses shut down for Christmas and the lemming-rush to the coastal resorts occurs and before the migrant workers return to their families in the rural areas.

I wonder what numbers the Government Mortury could add to these.

Home Sweet Home

Happy Christmas

2008-12-24T13:17:00.001+13:00

And may God bless all my readers.

What happened to the Anti Apartheid Movement?

2008-12-23T13:55:00.005+13:00

Paul Trewhela, former member of the South African Communist Party, once gaoled by the South African Government for his involvement with it, co-author of the Marxist journal Searchlight South Africa, writes:-

'This regime of terror,.... was a necessary element in the total practice of repression and deception which made the Anti-Apartheid Movement the most successful Popular Front lobby for Stalinism anywhere in the world. No international Stalinist-run public organization has ever had such an influence and shown such stability, reaching into so many major countries, for so long,

In its thirty years’ existence, the AAM put international collaborative organisations of the period of the Spanish Civil War and of the Stalin-Roosevelt-Churchill alliance to shame. Extending to the press, the churches, the bourgeois political parties, the trade unions and the radical, even the ‘trotskyist’ left, the AAM has been an outstanding success for Stalinism....'

http://www2.cddc.vt.edu/marxists/history/etol/revhist/supplem/hirson/quadro.html

Now another cockroach has come crawling out from under his filth covered rock.

Breyten Breytenbach, Afrikaner, poet, writer, painter and activist in the Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM), founder member of Okhela (zulu - spark) an anti-apartheid group aligned with the ANC, arrested and imprisoned for 'high treason' during an illegal visit whilst travelling on a false passport in South Africa in 1975; has written a letter to Nelson Mandela which has been published by Harper Magazine.

In this long diatribe of fawning, incoherent, self-indulgent crap, Breytenbach has laid into other Mandela-worshipers:-

..because I find it obscene the way everybody and his or her partner the ex-presidents and other vacuous and egomaniacal politicians, the starlets and coke-addled fashion models, the intellectually challenged and morally strained musicians, the hollow international jet set treat you like some exotic teddy bear to slobber over.

..and the present government:-

The seemingly never-ending parade of corrupt clowns in power at all levels, their incompetence and indifference, indeed their arrogance as historic victors drunkenly driven by a culture of entitlement...

..the crime:-

..the sense of impending horror in the air because of the violence and the cruelty with which crimes are committed, to be tortured and killed for a cell phone or a few coins ...

..the attitude of the police, especially towards whites:-

Do you know what constitutes the nightmare fear of young, middle-class men in South Africa these days? ....(being) thrown into a cell with hardened criminals as often as not now infected with HIV before being released a few days later......The police cells are dark. All night long he will be sodomized repeatedly. His screams of anguish and pain elicit no reaction from the police.

..and the failure of the ANC:-

We, my wife and I, had been in the country for little over a month then, and it was an unsettling experience. ...It was heartbreaking, in that leaving is the confirmation of a failed experience and a broken dream 'the dream' was probably my own naive expectation that a new dispensation ushered in by a liberation movement would realize at least some of the objectives we fought for: economic justice, an ethical public life . .

..and I came across, in notes and letters and snippets of essays, the recurring references to barbaric criminality, the plague of raping, theft, and fraud, the indecent enrichment of the few, manipulation, redeployment as a form of impunity, public office as an exercise in scavenging, the breakdown of essential services, entrenched and continuing racism, the lack of public morals or even common sense.

..and finally his advice to the future leaders of the country:-

I must tell you this terrible thing, my old and revered leader: if a young South African were to ask me whether he or she should stay or leave, my bitter advice would be to go. For the foreseeable future now, if you want to live your life to the full and with some satisfaction and usefulness....

..and a very telling comment from someone who sought the treasonous downfall of 'Apartheid' South Africa:-

More important now for us, old master: Did you, did we, ever seriously intend to bring about a democratic dispensation in South Africa, with its checks and balances and accountability? Or was it about settling old colonial scores?.....Why do we call 'national democratic revolution' the process by which the state and all its institutions and, by extension, its culture and economy become the feeding trough for the party and its cadres? Was it ever conceivable that a national liberation government could cede power if outvoted? For how much longer are we going to play the role of 'victims of history'?

Well, Breyten, what did you think you would get by supporting a Marxist organisation and helping them getting into government in South Africa. I hope the mantle of failure rests heavily on your shoulders!

For those who don't want to pay the subscription to Harpers, follow this link.

http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=9848

That Arm's Deal Again!

2008-12-06T20:27:00.004+13:00

£115 MILLION !

That is what BAE paid in bribes to the nascent ANC government, under the leadership of St Nelson, and their contacts. This does not include what Thint/Thyssen/Krupp (the French/German Co's kicked in with).

I wonder what Mandela's and Mbeki's personal take was?

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-12-05-how-arms-deal-bribes-were-paid

Gatsha is Back

2008-12-06T19:46:00.006+13:00

http://www.citizen.co.za/index/article.aspx?pDesc=84739,1,22

The collapse of Zimbabwe has exposed the Southern African Development Community’s ineffectiveness, Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said on Friday.
In his weekly newsletter, he questioned whether an “African solution” would solve the problems in that country.

“There is, in my book, no such thing as a ‘made in Africa’ solution.

Zimbabwe either holds ‘free and fair elections', like those recently held in America, or it does not.

“Zimbabwe either adheres to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (to which it is a signatory) or it does not.

It happens to do neither, and no amount of pontificating about ‘African solutions’ can disguise that fact

“Her people are starving, the hyper-inflation is running sky high, there is a humanitarian disaster of biblical proportions emerging with the cholera outbreak, and the country is, for all intents and purposes, not being governed.

“It is time to call a spade a spade,” he said.
Noting there had been both SADC and African Union efforts to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe, Buthelezi said these organisations had been established “to be the architecture of governance”.

“But they, in themselves, are not solutions -- as SADC has just so ignobly demonstrated.”

The disintegration of Zimbabwe had “miserably exposed” SADC’s ineffectiveness to intervene. Africans had fallen prey to the notion of relative standards.
“We are expected to hold ‘free and fair elections’ like everyone else, but there is an unspoken bargain that we will be given a bit of leeway. A ‘bit’ of voter fraud or a ‘few’ acts of intimidation -- even murder --will be overlooked as long as the election is held and the result expresses the will of the majority.

“As an African, who shares the joy of millions of people across the globe at the election of an African American as the leader of the free world, I believe it is time to say that we -- as Africans -- should be expected to adhere to the same standards as everyone else,” he said.

-Sapa

The highlights are mine.

This is the first time an African leader (he is the leader of the traditionalist Inkata Freedom Party and is a Zulu prince) has spoken out about the need for Africa to be judged by the same standards as everyone else. For far too long the undemocratic, barbarous behaviour of African 'leaders' has been excused by the liberal West. I believe that if each and every one of these despots had been taken to task for their behaviour, Africa would not be the basket case that it is.

Mugabe should have been captured and tried in the Hague 25 odd years ago when he ordered the murder of the 20 000 or so Ndebele soon after having had power handed to him by the British Government.

'SA racist killer gets life term' - BBC Friday 21 Nov 2008

2008-11-22T09:31:00.010+13:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7741301.stm

'A judge has sentenced a 19-year-old white South African to four life terms in jail for killing four black people in a shooting spree in January'

And so he should be!

But the Biased Broadcasting Corporation, over the last 14 years, has yet to comment on the 'other' racist murders in the New South Africa.

To date there have been just over 3000 white farmers, most of Boer origin, murdered on their farms by black assailants. Most of these murders have been accompanied by horrific violence, in fact often sadistic torture, inflicted on the victims. Women, even octogenarian women, and young girls have been violently raped by men who know they are HIV positive (we know this as they have told the victim afterwards that this is the case).

The torture has included pouring boiling water over the victims for hours on end and burning the victim over most of the body with a hot clothes iron. On occasions the perpetrators have sat around getting drunk while watching the victim bleed to death, and even let the spouse of the victim watch this happening. Fingers have been chopped off live victims - just to get a ring. And so the litany goes on.

And a huge proportion of these farmers have been elderly defenseless people.

There have been a total of 31000 attacks.

In 1994, when the ANC were handed the reins of power, there were 85 000 farmers in South Africa - occupying just 6% of the entire land surface. Now there are 13 500 white farmers left occupying less than 1% of the land.

Farms given to black South Africans lie in ruins, buildings plundered for roofing, windows and doors - to build shacks elsewhere; water pumps vandalised and farm equipment either stolen or no longer functioning.

SA has also become a net food importer.

I have often heard people comment that these white farmers deserve what is happening to them because of the way they have treated their farm workers. But the Helen Suzman Foundation (this is that brave white liberal woman who for years was the sole voice in Parliament who spoke out about the vileness of Apartheid), found that 93% of farm workers indicate their relationship with their employer is good.

In fact the workers on SA farms have generally been the recipients of care from their employers that far exceeds what farm workers get elsewhere. Each employee would be allowed to have a home and have his family stay on the farm, would have been given a bit of land for cultivation, allowed to keep a few head of cattle on the farm, be supplied with the basic food needed for the whole family, the wives employed in the farmhouse, and often a group of 3 or 4 farmers would have clubbed together to build a school and employ a teacher for the children. The wages have been poor, but then an average of 10, with 6 dependents each, have been employed on a farm surely at a high cost to the farmer.

Sadly the new employers, those recipients of government largess, the mates of the ANC government, have seen fit not to continue this relationship, and 1.2 million farm workers and their families have been evicted and are now homeless.

There have been cries of a 'Boer Genocide' being orchestrated by the ANC.

The term "genocide" was coined by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish legal scholar, in 1943. Defining genocide in 1943, Lemkin wrote:

Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups.

Apart from the high rate of murder accompanying attacks on farms, and even in the cities and towns, what else do we have to go along with the concept of genocide.

Economically white South Africans are being strangled. The government has a policy of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) which has made it almost impossible for whites to get employment. This cancer has spread throughout the Government and has been forced on Business by laws dictating quotas amongst staff that have to reflect the demographics of the country. Affirmative action has made it barely possible for the top white South African Students to gain access to University.

The Afrikaner fanatical, almost religious, support for Rugby (Union) has been attacked with quotas being enforced on the National Team, a continual barrage of politically motivated attempts at removing the name and symbol of a team that is recognised worldwide as the 'Springboks' and lately moves to take away stadiums that are used solely for rugby.

Streets named after Europeans who founded and developed the country or were heroes in the Anglo-Boer War have been changed with a feverish delight - at great cost and whilst large numbers of black men starve.

There are anecdotal reports of Police Officers failing to protect or investigate crimes against white people, refusal to allow them to communicate in their mother language of Afrikaans and even recordings of hate speech and verbal racist attacks on whites by high ranking government officials have surfaced.

Hate speech is part of the new President of the ANC's 'campaign' song where he calls for his machine gun. Even the sainted Nelson Mandela has been recorded on video singing songs about killing whites.

The ANC government is disarming the law abiding (mostly white) citizens while the townships are bursting at the seams with AK 47's and stolen hand guns, and any attempts at self defence are harshly penalised.

That there is a campaign to destroy any vestiges of white culture, economic power or history, can be in no doubt.

But the BBC likes to vilify white South Africans, and has done so for many decades, and finds it necessary to report any white on black violence with such glee and with breathtaking bias against whites. And they are ably assisted by the MSM in South Africa who never fail to mention the colour of the perpetrator if he is white, but do not do so if he is black.

Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Man

2008-11-10T17:53:00.005+13:00

New Zealand can be proud of their new Prime Minister, John Key.

We are so fortunate to have this intelligent man to lead us through the turbulent times that lie ahead. Since election night he has begun to show us the depth of his character, his charm, his fairness and the thought that goes into his actions. He is a man who is going to blossom in his new role and this bodes well for NZ, and heralds a new era of us having a National-led governemnt for many years.

This election has also defined a Nation, a nation who have decisively sent all the dirty, evil, nasty, lying, manipulative, little Marxist men and women who control labour, into oblivion.

And with this result the political and social landscape has changed forever.

Who do you want to answer the phone at 3am?

2008-11-05T18:54:00.002+13:00

For gecko

2008-11-01T19:12:00.003+13:00

and all those dedicated women who have had a gentle hand to help those who are suffering, a soft smile for the worried families, a kind word for a stressed colleague; those who have worked long hard, anti-social hours despite being ill or tired or have guided (and even comforted) the young and inexperienced doctor through those early bewildering years. We owe you a debt that we could never begin to repay.

Well done boys

2008-10-29T20:35:00.002+13:00

It's all about trust

2008-10-27T21:23:00.002+13:00

A man died and went to heaven.

As he stood in front of St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, he saw a huge wall of clocks behind him.He asked, "What are all those clocks?"

St. Peter answered, "Those are Lie-Clocks. Everyone on Earth has a Lie-Clock.Every time you lie the hands on your clock will move."

"Oh," said the man, "Whose clock is that?"

"That's Mother Teresa's. The hands have never moved, indicating that she never told a lie."

"Incredible," said the man. "And whose clock is that one?"

St. Peter responded, "That's Abraham Lincoln's clock. The hands have moved twice telling us that Abe told only two lies in his entire life."

"Where's Helen Clark's?" asked the man.

"Clark's clock is in God's office. He's using it as a fan."

Maternity Care in NZ

2008-10-25T10:04:00.003+13:00

The shocking state of maternity care provided to New Zealand mothers is beginning to be exposed at last.

The model of care where midwives, who enter directly into the profession, with no nursing background, are allowed to provide sole care to an expectant mother, without medical oversight, with no statutory requirements to report adverse outcomes, trained by a 'College' that is driven by an ideology that belongs in the middle-ages, has resulted in a doubling of the rate of birth-related maternal deaths. http://www.stuff.co.nz/4738834a11.html

This has been exposed in a letter sent to the members of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

The letter raised concerns about a "quarantined maternal mortality report which reportedly shows a doubling in maternal mortality since the introduction of midwife-led care".

Associate Health Minister Steve Chadwick, who is responsible for maternity issues, said a committee had been formed in 2005 to investigate maternal deaths and the deaths of babies around the time of labour.

It is understood that the report into maternal deaths had been with Health Minister David Cunliffe for some time.

This raise a whole lot of issues.

At the time of the National Women's scandal, the Minister of Health was Helen Clark. It has long been the view of some doctors who worked there at the time that the scandal had been engineered with the use of dodgy statistics and using current knowledge to retrospectively judge a treatment modality for a disease that was misunderstood at the time. The statistician allegedly was a friend of Peter Davis. The aim was apparently to remove the powerful men who led Women's Care in New Zealand.

The College of Midwives has in its mission statement made it clear that they want to de-medicalise childbirth. This flies in the face of the modern approach to medicine where 'evidence based' treatment modalities are used. The rate of childbirth related deaths have plummeted in the last 100 years or so precisely because of modern medical involvement, research into pregnancy related illnesses and modern medical, not only obstetric, practice and the high standards of training.

This has been replaced by midwives trained in a College dominated by people of the same sexual orientation as the Associate Health Minister and our own Dear Leader, people who have an intense dislike for males, people who railed against 'paternalism' in medicine and who have now replaced it with their own type of 'paternalism' where women are being shamed into having to go along with their ideology; midwives who do not know what they don't know, and midwives that have been protected by a government from being exposed for what they are.

The result of this experiment in maternal care has resulted in an increased number of mothers dying, an increase in the number of children dying - but even worse is the number of both women and children who have been damaged for life, the number of women who are feacally incontenant, the number of women who will not have enjoyable sex again, the number of children who have cerbral palsey or are 'not all quite there'.

That is the bigger scandal.

Economic Woes

2008-10-12T20:09:00.006+13:00

Mr Key told supporters National was the party to lead New Zealand out of the gloom. "I'm campaigning on strengthening our economy, on rising to the challenge presented by tough global conditions, and on delivering greater prosperity to New Zealanders and their families -- because Kiwis are sick of struggling to keep up with the cost of living, they're sick of worrying about soaring interest rates and they're sick of higher taxes."

Mr Key said that aside from last week's tax cuts package, the economy needed additional stimulus in the downturn and several other National policies would help boost growth. They included reforming the Resource Management Act, cutting other red tape, boosting infrastructure investment, restraining government spending and raising education standards.

Helen Clark on the other hand offered a savings insurance scheme (for which you will pay of course and if you are lucky enough to have any savings left) - long after the rest of the world has instituted one AND after millions of New Zealanders have lost their savings with the Finance Companies all going belly up.

Labour once again showing us that they are up to it by shutting the door after the horse has bolted.

2008-10-08T09:54:00.002+13:00

History will record the 9 years of this labour government as the worst period in NZ’s progress towards a country with high living standards, low crime, low poverty, high growth, high aspirations and developed ability to deliver on it’s aspirations. Despite record economic benefits no progress has been made on growing the cake only fatuously increasing ways to distribute it. H has cheated and connived to push some sort of social agenda which she ‘knows’ this country needs but the rest of us don’t recognize. She is quite the worst PM we have ever had (including Muldoon whose damage was much less) and it appalls me to see people who praise her ability. She has been an utter disaster.

Jeremy from Marlborough - writing on the NZ Herald website

Unashamedly copied from The Inquiring Mind

Out of Africa

2008-10-02T17:19:00.001+13:00

..and another reason why swimming togs should come with an instruction manual.

Charlize again

2008-10-01T19:48:00.003+13:00

For kg and Gecko, the two faithful readers of my blog and both of whom have appreciated pics of this beautiful woman.

Bleak Future

2008-09-29T21:39:00.004+13:00

The myopia and greed of the country’s new regime of rats have eroded my faith in the specific future I had once believed in. I do not foresee, today, any significant decrease in crime and violence in South Africa; I have serious doubts that our rulers can even guarantee a safe and successful soccer World Cup in 2010; I do not believe that the levels of corruption and nepotism and racketeering and incompetence and injustice and unacceptable practices of “affirmative action” in the country will decrease in the near future.

Andre Brink - One of the famous Afrikaans Anti-Apartheid Writers, after his nephew was shot in the face and allowed to die in front of his wife and daughter, whilst his murderers continued to ransack his house.

Attitude

2008-09-19T17:24:00.002+12:00

Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than what people do or say. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. - WC Fields

Hat tip to The Inquiring Mind.

Charlize

2008-09-17T19:42:00.002+12:00

Clarkeypoo's

2008-09-17T19:42:00.001+12:00

“I’m sorry, but having a DB9 on the drive and not driving it is a bit like having Keira Knightley in your bed and sleeping on the couch.”
“… the last time someone was as wrong as you, was when a politician stepped off an aeroplane in 1939 waving a piece of paper in the air saying there will be no war with Germany “
Illustrating the lack of power of a Boxster: “It couldn’t pull a greased stick out of a pig’s bottom”
On the Vauxhall Vectra VXR: “there is a word to describe this car: it begins with ’s’ and ends with ‘t’ and it isn’t soot
“The Suzuki Wagon R should be avoided like unprotected sex with an Ethiopian transvestite”
“The air conditioning in a Lambos used to be an asthmatic sitting in the dashboard blowing at you through a straw.”
“Koenigsegg are saying that the CCX is more comfortable. More comfortable than what… BEING STABBED?”
“This is the Renault Espace, probably the best of the people carriers. Not that that’s much to shout about. That’s like saying ‘Ooh good I’ve got syphilis, the BEST of the sexually transmitted diseases.’”
“I don’t understand bus lanes. Why do poor people have to get to places quicker than I do?”
Clarkson’s highway code on cyclists: “Trespassers in the motorcars domain, they do not pay road tax and therefore have no right to be on the road, some of them even believe they are going fast enough to not be an obstruction. Run them down to prove them wrong.”
“Britain’s nuclear submarines have been deemed unsafe…probably because they don’t have wheel-chair access.”
On Mandela’s claim that Cuba is a good advert for democracy: “Well Mr Mandela why don’t you go and ask one of the 12 year old Cuban prostitutes which way her parents voted?”
“Now we get quite a lot of complaints that we don’t feature enough affordable cars on the show……so we’ll kick off tonight with the cheapest Ferrari of them all!”
On the Lotus Elise: “This car is more fun than the entire French air force crashing into a firework factory.”
“Sure it’s quiet, for a diesel. But that’s like being well-behaved… for a murderer.”
“I don’t often agree with the RSPCA as I believe it is an animal’s duty to be on my plate at supper time.”
“There are footballers wives that would be happy with this quality of stitching… on their face.”
“Much more of a hoot to drive than you might imagine. Think of it if you like, as a librarian with a G-string under her tweed pants. I do, and it helps.”
“You cannot have this car with a diesel. Its like saying, I won’t go to Stringfellows tonight, I’ll get my mum to give me a lapdance, she’s a woman!”
“Tonight, the new Viper, which is the American equivalent of a sportscar… in the same way, I guess, that George Bush is the equivalent of a President.”
On the Porsche Cayenne: “Honestly, I have seen more attractive gangrenous wounds than this. It has the sex appeal of a camel with gingivitis.”

Dear Helen

2008-09-10T19:17:00.000+12:00

Beauty of the Day

2008-09-09T15:15:00.001+12:00

Cartoon of the Day

2008-09-09T14:55:00.003+12:00

Zapiro is a cartoonist who is not afraid to take on the politicians in South Africa. This particularly sad cartoon shows Jacob Zuma, the ruling ANC's President (notorious for being accused of rape and also for having taken a shower to protect himself from HIV) , clearly about to rape a woman whilst being held down by the three members of the Tripartite Government - the ANC, the SA Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions - and being helped by the ANC Youth League.

Zuma, who is in all likelyhood going to be the next President of South Africa, is under investigation for fraud and corruption. His various supporters in the ANCYL, SACP, COSATU and the ANC have made many open threats to the police investigative team, the legal system and the public at large that they will creat havoc and will kill if Zuma is convicted.

Labour Front Bench Today

2008-07-29T20:28:00.002+12:00

Cullen and Hulun

2008-07-19T19:04:00.003+12:00

Captions

2008-07-02T21:28:00.002+12:00

I'll start -

'Now, where has that mad f**ker gone'

'This will teach him to mess with a knighthood'

Mandela - The Legend and the Legacy

2008-06-30T14:35:00.004+12:00

Sarah Maid of Albion has written an informative article on Nelson Mandela. I urge all of you to read it at http://sarahmaidofalbion2.blogspot.com/2008/06/mandela-legend-and-legacy.html

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

2008-06-29T11:38:00.005+12:00

Statement by the President

On Friday.

The Mugabe regime held a sham election that ignored the will of the people of Zimbabwe. The international community has condemned the Mugabe regime's ruthless campaign of politically-motivated violence and intimidation with a strong and unified voice that makes clear that yesterday's election was in no way free and fair. Any legitimate government of Zimbabwe must represent the interests of all its citizens and the outcome of the March 29 elections.Given the Mugabe regime's blatant disregard for the Zimbabwean people's democratic will and human rights, I am instructing the Secretaries of State and Treasury to develop sanctions against this illegitimate Government of Zimbabwe and those who support it. We will press for strong action by the United Nations, including an arms embargo on Zimbabwe and travel ban on regime officials. We will continue to work closely with the African Union, Southern African Development Community, and other world leaders to resolve this crisis.The United States stands ready to support a legitimate government through a robust package of development assistance, debt relief, and normalization with international financial institutions. In the meantime, we will continue to support the people of Zimbabwe by providing food assistance to more than one million people and AIDS treatment to more than 40,000 people.

Statement issued by the White House June 28 2008

While being feted in England, Saint Nelson Mandela, champion for Human Rights, could barely manage to make any comment about the severity of the situation in Zimbabwe.

"We watch with sadness the continuing tragedy in Darfur. Nearer to home we have seen the outbreak of violence against fellow Africans in our own country and the tragic failure of leadership in our neighbouring Zimbabwe."

WTF - is that all he could say.

And Tarboy Mbeki's goverment has blocked the UN from doing anything

The UN security council has failed to agree on declaring Zimbabwe's runoff election illegitimate today in the face of South African opposition.Instead, it merely issued an oral statement of regret.

Just because it's Wimbledon again

2008-06-28T16:57:00.000+12:00

Engaged!

2008-06-25T20:27:00.000+12:00

Africa Addio

2008-06-25T16:04:00.009+12:00

Once again South Africa's Teaboy Mbeki has shamed his country by his failure to stop Mugabe's violent thuggery.

But is Mbeki alone in his 'silent support' of this madman and his henchmen?

In a statement released by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the ANC ( http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71654?oid=92677&sn=Detail ) they have been quite clear where their support lies.

It has always been and continues to be the view of our movement that the challenges facing Zimbabwe can only be solved by the Zimbabweans themselves. Nothing that has happened in the recent months has persuaded us to revise that view. A lasting solution has to be led by the Zimbabweans and any attempts by outside players to impose regime change will merely deepen the crisis.

The political programme of the national liberation movement in Zimbabwe consequently centred on the right of national self-determination to be attained through democratic elections in which all adult citizens of the country would have the untrammelled right to elect the government of their choice. Restoration of the land seized during colonialism to the indigenous people was a central plank of that programme as well. It was a shared objective of all the liberation movements in this region of Africa...

The ANC is very mindful of the obligations Britain assumed in relation to Zimbabwe at the Lancaster House Talks. Chief amongst these was resolution of the Land Question, i.e. undoing the consequences of well nigh 100 years of British colonial domination. A large measure of responsibility for the current crisis is attributable to the ex-colonial power because it has reneged on that undertaking.

In our efforts to assist Zimbabweans resolve their problems the ANC has consistently supported the efforts of the South African government and the SADC region. After the SADC Summit appointed President Mbeki to act as mediator amongst the parties in Zimbabwe, he has enjoyed the ANC's unstinting support. We were consequently very pleased when, owing to his mediation, a relatively peaceful and free election was held on 29 March 2008.

While the ANC was sceptical of the feasibility of a run-off, we deferred to the judgement of the SADC leadership and that of the political parties in Zimbabwe and lent our support to the process.

But have added a small sop to democracy by alluding to the violence in Zimbabwe.

However, compelling evidence of violence, intimidation and outright terror; the studied harassment of the leadership of the MDC, including its Presidential candidate, by the security organs of the Zimbabwean government; the arrest and detention of the Secretary-General of the MDC; the banning of MDC public meetings; and denial of access to the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, all have convinced us that free and fair elections are not possible in the political environment prevalent in Zimbabwe today.

We wish the MDC, ZANU (PF) and all the other parties in Zimbabwe the moral courage, strength and determination to urgently seek a viable solution to the profound problems facing their country.

Meanwhile the ANC government has shown its true colours and is trying to pass an Expropriation Bill through their Parliament which will enable them to take all the movable assets as well as the farm as they continue their own drive to disposses white farmers and destroy the food producers in South Africa.

Even the future SA President, Jacob Zuma, ( http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71656?oid=92679&sn=Detail ) at an International Investment Congress held in South Africa, showed that the Marxist Ideology of the ANC is still very much alive and well when he said:-

As the ANC, we are calling for a mixed economy, where the state, private capital, cooperatives and other forms of social ownership complement each other in an integrated way to eliminate poverty and foster shared economic growth.

Our view is that the State must play a central and strategic role in the economy, by directly investing in underdeveloped areas and directing private sector investment.

The State should also mobilise society to take part in the implementation of those priorities and direct resources towards realising these objectives.

There still exists skewed patterns of ownership and production in our economy, a legacy of the apartheid past. Change will not happen automatically. Decisive action is required to transform the current economic patterns in order to realise our vision for the future.

This regulation should take into account the country's commitment to land reform, restitution, redistribution and access to land. The ANC has also resolved that we should discard the market-driven land reform and immediately review the principle of willing-seller, willing-buyer so as to accelerate equitable distribution of land.

This the future of South Africa - Central control of the Economy while it runs unsuccesful collective farms on previously vibrant farming land - yet another Failed State, yet another unsuccesful Post Colonial African Democracy.

If you have the stomach, watch the original, uncut version of 'Africa Addio' recorded by an Italian TV crew in 1964. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4540134202583442015&q=addio+africa&ei=8rEUSOSSGIWEqgOijqTTBA

Brasilian Women's Soccer Team

2008-06-07T15:47:00.001+12:00

Bodyguard of Lies

2008-06-07T14:59:00.002+12:00

I have unashamedly copied this from http://southafrica-pig.blogspot.com/

What conclusions can one draw from mounting evidence that the ANC is steeped in corruption?

When the ANC adopted the principle of the armed struggle, like the USA under Bush at Guantanamo, or the Nazi functionaries at the Wannsee Conference, they abandoned 'ordinary' concepts of morality and legality and resorted to the Law of Moral Entitlement.

It is a context in which graft, murder and torture - even democide - become conceivable and eventually acceptable, because it is done in the name of the greater good - racial purity, human progress, freedom, democracy or some such noble cause.

Most people would probably say that during the Second World War this higher ethic was appropriate. It is debatable.

Some people would agree that such an ethic is also acceptable in a war of liberation. Gandhi would have disagreed, but it is arguable.

Once a liberation movement becomes a government, it often finds it impossible to change its liberationist mind-set and accept 'ordinary' ideas of the rule of law. The ANC may have accepted the constitution and the Bill of Rights (read their lips), but always with a casuistic reservatio mentalis that everything was still subject to the higher Law of Moral Entitlement.

The NEC of the ANC alone could be trusted with the sacred duty of upholding its concept of democracy. No-one else can be trusted.

Zuma has twice publicly announced the supremacy of the ANC over the Constitution.

So to pilfer state assets and divert money intended for the poor in order to fund elections and to buy the loyalty of influential people would not only be acceptable, but indeed a moral duty - the duty to protect Democracy. Even when things go badly wrong and corruption takes on a life of its own and gets completely out of hand, the Guardians of Democracy may still cling to their sense of moral entitlement - like corrupt and degenerate popes who still somehow managed to believe that they were doing God's work - even while moving in mysterious ways from one 'nephew's' bed chamber to the next.

Is it acceptable for the Guardians of Democracy to lie about their transgressions?

No less a man than Winston Churchill answered this question: 'In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.'

The frightening thing is that this sense of moral entitlement probably implies that it is impossible for the Guardians to even think of the possibility of losing an election - and we know what that means in Africa (Mugabe, Kenya) ANC leaders pay lip service to multiparty democracy, but every now and then give the game away.

It is significant that when Mbeki went to Polokawne to seek a third term as ANC president, he did not bring an heir apparent with him. It was either Mbeki or nothing; losing was simply inconceivable. Stalin was also known for his policy of never permitting anyone to be seen as a possible successor.

Zuma finds it inconceivable that a mere charge of corruption could possibly be allowed to stand between him and the presidency to which he is morally entitled, because only he really cares about the poor.

The whole top structure of the ANC believes, like Zuma, that the ANC will (and must) be in power 'until Jesus comes'.

Unfortunately - a painful lesson Mbeki recently learnt: the gods take a very dim view of hubris.

Zimbabwean Billionaires

2008-06-07T14:28:00.004+12:00

Give credit where credit is due - Robert Mugabe has created a nation of billionaires.

Zimbabwe's currency plunged to a new record low on Thursday, trading at an average one billion to the US dollar on a recently introduced interbank market and triggering massive price increases.

Yes that is right 1 US$ = 1 Billion Zim$'s

Messing with your mind?

2008-06-05T20:11:00.001+12:00

Famine in South Africa

2008-06-04T18:14:00.002+12:00

Famine also looms in SA due to new property Expropriation Bill

The draconian Expropriation Bill which has been tabled by the ANC-regime will effectively allow the expropriation of any registered property. This Bill will allow the immediate expropriation, without recourse to the courts, by the government of any kind of privately-owned properties - urban, residential, any kind of private businesses, industrial, church and school-properties.

Also facing the final axe now will be the country's remaining 11,000 commercial farms - which occupy only 0,76% of the entire SA land surface.

South Africa's agriculture is thus also being plunged into total destruction under the Mbeki regime. A major food exporter only a decade ago, SA now needs to import large quantities of food at high prices to keep its 47-million residents, and 5-million refugees from the rest of Africa, fed adequately.

More than 21-million South Africans now are permanently food-insecure and unable to buy even one meal a day and in this increasingly pitched battle for survival, the indigenous black SA population has launched an ethnic-cleansing campaign to chase 'foreign Africans' from their neighbourhoods.

Under this new Bill property owners will also not be allowed to take away or sell any kind of 'movable property' (tractors, cars, sheds, irrigation equipment etc.) on those sites once they have received notification of expropriation.

Thabo is learning his lessons well.

The President's wife

2008-06-04T17:36:00.000+12:00

Obama - the Democrat Nominee

2008-06-04T17:31:00.002+12:00

Although I don't condone rascist language, one has just gotta love the humour.

Mad Bob and his sycophant Thabo

2008-06-04T16:30:00.008+12:00

In his speech to world food summit, June 3 2008, the Zimbabwean president said :-

My country's primary agriculture policy objective remains that of ensuring national and household food security through our own production. In this regard, Zimbabwe has recognised the importance and centrality of land in agricultural production and food security. Thus, over the past decade, Zimbabwe has democratized the land ownership patterns in the country, with over 300 000 previously landless families now proud landowners.

Previously, this land was owned by a mere 4,000 farmers, mainly of British stock. While this land reform programme has been warmly welcomed by the vast majority of our people, it has however, and regrettably so, elicited wrath from our former colonial masters. In retaliation for the measures we took to empower the black majority, the United Kingdom has mobilized her friends and allies in Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand to impose illegal economic sanctions against Zimbabwe. They have cut off all development assistance, disabled lines of credit, prevented the Bretton Woods institutions from providing financial assistance and ordered private companies in the United States not to do business with Zimbabwe. All this has been done to cripple Zimbabwe's economy and thereby effect illegal regime change in our country.

In a statement released by the White House, President GW Bush had the following comment about Zimbabwe:-

While Robert Mugabe makes political statements in Rome, his people continue to face empty markets at home. The United States currently feeds more than 1 million Zimbabweans and spent more than $170 million on food assistance in Zimbabwe last year. We will continue these efforts to prevent government-induced starvation in Zimbabwe.

In late April the South African President, the purveyor of 'quiet diplomacy', Thabo Mbeki , addressed a four-page letter to President Bush. Rather than coordinating strategy to end Zimbabwe's nightmare, Mbeki criticized the United States, in a text packed with exclamation points, for taking sides against President Mugabe's government and disrespecting the views of the Zimbabwean people. "He said it was not our business," recalls one American official, and "to butt out, that Africa belongs to him."

The 'New South Africa' has also actively blocked United Nations discussions about human rights abuses in Zimbabwe - and in Belarus, Cuba, North Korea and Uzbekistan.

South Africa was also the only 'democracy' to vote against a resolution demanding that the Burmese junta stop ethnic cleansing and free jailed dissident Aung San Suu Kyi.

When Iranian nuclear proliferation was debated in the Security Council, South Africa dragged out discussions and demanded watered-down language in the resolution.

In the General Assembly, South Africa fought against a resolution condemning the use of rape as a weapon of war because the resolution was not sufficiently anti-American, and opposed a resolution condemning rape and attacks on civilians in Darfur - and then rolled out the red carpet for a visit from Sudan's genocidal leader.

When confronted by international human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch about their apparent indifference to all rights but their own, South African officials have responded by attacking the groups themselves which, they conspiratorially (and falsely) claim, are funded by "major Western powers."

South Africa clearly is also attempting to league itself with China and Brazil in a new nonaligned movement to redress an "imbalance of global power," meaning an excess of American power.

Longtime observers of Mbeki believe that racial issues may also play a role as he lashes out whenever he believes that Westerners are telling Africans how to conduct their lives, or who their leaders should be.

There is a common theme developing here and surely this spells out the future of South Africa - the only truely functional economy in sub Saharan Africa, but one wonders for how much longer.

Heidi - again

2008-05-27T21:22:00.001+12:00

Slowhand

2008-05-27T21:11:00.003+12:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l16jlallBMs

Live vid of the maestro with cream - this is well worth a watch

Oh Sh*t

2008-05-26T10:23:00.001+12:00

It was just one of those days. Better luck next year.

2008-05-18T20:10:00.004+12:00

Well done boys!

Despite a road trip from hell, you've made the play offs and you looked good.

This year might just be your best - after being bridesmaid too often.

Heidi

2008-05-15T14:16:00.005+12:00

Seal is a lucky man.

4 Billion Dollars

2008-05-10T12:16:00.003+12:00

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/466/story.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10509183

Just in case you missed it I have linked to Brian Gaynors article in the Herald.

This Labour government has wasted $4 Billion - yes that is FOUR BILLION - of taxpayers money on our railways, and in the process have increased the wealth of Fay, Richwhite and many others offshore.

This is your money - you know the money you need to buy your child that much needed pair of shoes, or some decent food for your family, or to save for your retirement. Money to employ enough nurses and open enough operating rooms so that your relatives can get their heart operations done before it's too late, or your hips replaced so that you can be pain free, or your cataracts removed so that you can see properly. Or they could build classrooms so that your children are not educated in a shipping container.

Another one to think about

2008-05-10T12:11:00.000+12:00

SA duo jailed for life

2008-05-10T11:58:00.003+12:00

Two South Africans who overstayed their British visas were jailed for life on Friday for the murders of two men strangled during a series of violent muggings.

Gabriel Bhengu (27), and Jabu Mbowane (26), will be deported after serving life sentences.

Judge John Goldring said at a sentencing hearing at Wolverhampton Crown Court in central England that evidence had clearly shown that Bhengu and Mbowane had carefully selected vulnerable targets.

"You selected your victims and each was in some way vulnerable," the judge told the two men.

"Some were women walking home from the shop laden with bags. One was an older man smoking his cigar at the end of an evening."

"Two — those whom you murdered — were on their way back home from the pub. They, you knew, were affected by drink."

The defendants, who live in Wolverhampton, admitted mugging Andrew Owen and Neil Williams, but denied they intended to cause either man serious harm.

The judge said he was convinced the pattern of violence in each offence had been the same.

"You, Bhengu, the taller and stronger man, grabbed the victim from behind about the neck in a headlock and squeezed," he said.

"You, Mbowane, stole the victims' belongings, in some cases by rifling through a pocket or pockets of the victim."

Bhengu and Mbowane had entered Britain legally, but their visas had expired by the time they carried out the killings and five other robberies in April last year.

They were convicted of murder and robbery Thursday following a five-week trial. A life sentence normally lasts around 15 years.

http://iafrica.com/news/sa/917397.htm

Now where are all those British activists who were at the forefront of the anti-apartheid movement?

Could it just be that because these two thugs happen to be black that there is such a deafening silence?

I can assure you that if they were white South Africans this would be pasted all over the British press - just as any white on black violence is highlighted as 'racism still rife in SA' whilst black on white violence is just 'violent SA'.

Something to think about

2008-05-08T20:59:00.000+12:00

2008 - Year of the Dead Rat

2008-05-08T20:42:00.003+12:00

Labour is having to swallow yet another dead rat as their ETS (emissions trading scheme) is being exposed for what it is - yet another way to extract money from the tax payer.

NZPA reports -

The Government could take up to $80 billion in windfall gains due to the climate change emissions trading scheme (ETS), Solid Energy chief executive Don Elder told MPs today.

Mr Elder said the bill was not only about climate change, but was also the most far-reaching taxation legislation since the 1980s.

He said no one had seemed to consider the possibility that even if pollution targets were met, billions of dollars would end up in the Government’s coffers.

Then the Maori party climbs in on their retreat from their 'flagship' policy -

The Government can’t go round promising or telling people one thing and then backing down because it’s election year. You either genuinely believe this needs to happen and you’ve got a strategy to address the issues around climate change, or you haven’t.

All in all not a good week for Labour as Tim (that idiot Michael) wastes our money on his railway buyout - and makes us the laughing stock of Australian business, employment figures plummet and the average kiwi struggles to make ends meet.

MAY DAY MASSACRE

2008-05-03T11:41:00.003+12:00

Gordon Brown’s first electoral test turned into a nightmare last night as Labour lost an astonishing 331 council seats and Boris Johnson won the London mayoral election.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3864666.ece

Heh heh!

I cant wait for the elections here in NZ later this year. Helen and Michael are going to get a spanking.

Michelle

2008-04-30T11:07:00.003+12:00

Still one of the most beautiful woman. Class is enduring.

Bwha ha ha

2008-04-23T21:10:00.001+12:00

Last weekend I saw something at Larry’s Pistol & Pawn Shop that sparked my interest. The occasion was our 15th anniversary and I was looking for a little something extra for my wife Julie. What I came across was a 100,000-volt, pocket/purse-sized taser. The effects of the taser were supposed to be short lived, with no long-term adverse affect on your assailant, allowing her adequate time to retreat to safety….?? WAY TOO COOL!
Long story short, I bought the device and brought it home. I loaded two AAA batteries in the darn thing and pushed the button. Nothing! I was disappointed. I learned, however, that if I pushed the button AND pressed it against a metal surface at the same time; I’d get the blue arc of electricity darting back and forth between the prongs. AWESOME!!! Unfortunately, I have yet to explain to Julie what that burn spot is on the face of her microwave. Okay, so I was home alone with this new toy, thinking to myself that it couldn’t be all that bad with only two triple-A batteries, right?
There I sat in my recliner, my cat Gracie looking on intently (trusting little soul) while I was reading the directions and thinking that I really needed to try this thing out on a flesh & blood moving target. I must admit I thought about zapping Gracie (for a fraction of a second) and thought better of it. She is such a sweet cat. But, if I was going to give this thing to my wife to protect herself against a mugger, I did want some assurance that it would work as advertised. Am I wrong? So, there I sat in a pair of shorts and a tank top with my reading glasses perched delicately on the bridge of my nose, directions in one hand, and taser in another.
The directions said that a one-second burst would shock and disorient your assailant; a two-second burst was supposed to cause muscle spasms and a major loss of bodily control; a three-second burst would purportedly make your assailant flop on the ground like a fish out of water. Any burst longer than three seconds would be wasting the batteries. All the while I’m looking at this little device measuring about 5′ long, less than 3/4 inch in circumference; pretty cute really and (loaded with two itsy, bitsy triple-A batteries) thinking to myself, ‘no possible way!’
What happened next is almost beyond description, but I’ll do my best…? I’m sitting there alone, Gracie looking on with her head cocked to one side as to say, ‘don’t do it dipshit,’ reasoning that a one second burst from such a tiny little ole thing couldn’t hurt all that bad. I decided to give myself a one second burst just for heck of it. I touched the prongs to my naked thigh, pushed the button, and . . . HOLY MOTHER OF GOD . . . WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION . . . WHAT THE HELL!!!
I’m pretty sure Jessie Ventura ran in through the side door, picked me up in the recliner, then body slammed us both on the carpet, over and over and over Again. I vaguely recall waking up on my side in the fetal position, with tears in my eyes, body soaking wet, both nipples on fire, testicles nowhere to be found, with my left arm tucked under my body in the oddest position, and tingling in my legs?
The cat was making meowing sounds I had never heard before, clinging to a picture frame hanging above the fireplace, obviously in an attempt to avoid getting slammed by my body flopping all over the living room. Note: If you ever feel compelled to ‘mug’ yourself with a taser, one note of caution: there is no such thing as a one second burst when you zap yourself! You will not let go of that thing until it is dislodged from your hand by a violent thrashing about on the floor. A three second burst would be considered conservative?
*S-O-B, THAT HURT LIKE HE**!!!
A minute or so later (I can’t be sure, as time was a relative thing at that point), I collected my wits (what little I had left), sat up and surveyed the landscape. My bent reading glasses were on the mantel of the fireplace. The recliner was upside down and about 8 feet or so from where it originally was. My triceps, right thigh and both nipples were still twitching. My face felt like it had been shot up with Novocain, and my bottom lip weighed 88 lbs. I had no control over the drooling.
Apparently I shit myself, but was too numb to know for sure and my sense of smell was gone. I saw a faint smoke cloud above my head which I believe was coming from my hair. I’m still looking for my nuts and I’m offering a significant reward for their safe return!!
P. S. My wife loved the gift, and now regularly threatens me with it!

Arrogance, Incompetance, Callousness, Greed, Denial

2008-04-14T18:34:00.008+12:00

This is a reply given by the opposition in the South African National assembly to the State of the Nation speech .

Our venal and corrupt politicians should take note.

STATE OF THE NATION DEBATE
by Ryan Coetzee

Madam Speaker,

The ANC has never been more dismal in a state of the nation debate.

The implication is that deep down, the ANC knows the truth: that our ship of state is not on course. It is off course, and in perilous waters, and in danger of running aground. But the ANC lacks the moral courage to accept reality and take responsibility.

So instead its speakers stand up here and dissemble and deny and dismiss criticism with self-righteous contempt.

But let’s look reality in the eye for a moment:

•The reality is that the ANC’s attachment to what it calls the National Democratic Revolution, and in particular its policy of deploying loyal cadres to institutions that are meant to be independent of the ruling party, is a direct assault on the constitution. The NDR is an anti-constitutional power-grab, Honourable Cronin. End it now.

•The reality is that the power outages across South Africa are caused by a dismal failure of leadership, vision and planning in the face of clear warnings – they are not an act of God or the consequence of economic success, and they most emphatically are not a mere “engineering solution to an engineering problem”.

•The reality is that corruption has become part of our national culture as a direct consequence of the ANC elite’s lust for money. The arms deal – and the cover up of its corruption – is a festering sore on the visage of the ANC and a blight on the reputation of our country.

•The reality is that we are failing in the fight against crime, because the Minister responsible is complacent; because our security agencies are at war with each other; because the country’s top cop is in league with a drug lord.

•The reality is that our education system is failing; our response to AIDS is too-little and too-late; our labour market regime is job-denying; our public service is incapacitated; and our foreign policy too often an embarrassment.

And so the ANC today is characterized by:

•Arrogance
•Incompetence
•Callousness
•Greed
•Denial

That’s the moral high ground for you, Honourable Minister of Safety and Security! I trust you’re enjoying the view.

And who is to blame for this reality? Is Apartheid to blame? Is the opposition to blame? The media? Big business?

I put it to you Madam Speaker that the ANC is to blame; that responsible ministers are to blame; that the President is to blame.

You see, the flip side of winning power is that you have to take responsibility for what you do with it.

It’s just not credible, Honourable Professor Asmal, to employ the tired trick of measuring the present against the Apartheid past and then drawing the false conclusion that the ANC in power has achieved what it should have?

The trouble with the ANC is that it labours under a delusion: the idea that it governs by a kind of divine right, as if it is a matter of destiny that the ANC should represent the majority of South Africans. Hence Mr. Zuma’s fatuous boast that the ANC will rule until Jesus comes.

Who needs accountability when you’re going to win anyway, right? Who needs to listen to alternative views? Who needs to be mindful of criticism?

And so we arrive at the arrogance of power. But the ANC will pay a price for its arrogance. I am here to tell you that one day the ANC will wake up to find that the voters have moved on. The leadership will find itself stranded with its BMWs, bodyguards and Johnny Walker Blues, the detritus of a forgotten liberation movement; a vanguard party no more.

It may not happen tomorrow, or next year, or the year after. But happen it will. Because the greatest enemy of corrupt, incompetent, arrogant governing parties, is time. From the moment they are elected, the clock starts ticking. The moral capital with which they began is progressively squandered. Slowly, the patience of the people trickles away. And then the unthinkable happens, and the powerful come crashing down.

It’s a great irony that a party with so much belief in the primacy of History (with a capital H) should have so little sense of it.

Madam Speaker, the President is fond of poetry. Perhaps it is time his party contemplated the words of Shelley’s Ozymandius:

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter’d visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp’d on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock’d them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Speech delivered in the National Assembly during the State of the Nation Debate) AUTHOR: Ryan Coetzee is a Member of Parliament and the Democratic Alliance’s CEO

Freely and fully copied from:-

http://www.insidepolitics.org.za/blog_details.aspx?EntryId=294&page=daily

Liz

2008-04-08T21:25:00.000+12:00

An old favourite looking very yummy.

Move over Bob

2008-04-03T14:47:00.003+13:00

As Robert Mugabe gets the heave-ho from a tired, hungry and abused population, a new tyrant is moving in. South Africa's recently elected ANC president, Jacob Zuma, who will in all likelyhood be the next President of South Africa; liar, rapist and corrupt; Marxist and violent; promoting himself with a song praising the use of the magine gun in a country that has one of the highest rates of murder and violent crime in the world and where daily headlines tell of a society at the mercy of armed 'home invaders' who rape and torture their innocent victims before executing them; has all the attributes to be his succesor, and that of the continents other greatest such as Mobutu, Amin and Taylor and many, many more; those thugs who have ascended to power on the back of the popular vote and gone on to rob, suppress and murder their own people with impunity.

Sick Gazans die in 'avoidable tragedies'

2008-04-02T19:16:00.003+13:00

Israel has turned away more sick Palestinians from Gaza seeking treatment since Hamas seized control of the enclave and several have died each month unnecessarily, a United Nations agency said on Tuesday.

This is a no-brainer - Hamas are trying to destroy Israel

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said Israel denied entry permits to 18,5% of patients seeking to leave the Gaza Strip in 2007 versus 10% in 2006.

But allowed 81.5% in for treatment - remember these people want to destroy Israel.

In December 2007, 36% were denied permits compared with 8,5% in December 2006.

The WHO said the number of applicants and the percentage of those turned away surged after Hamas Islamists seized control of Gaza in June, the crossing to Egypt was closed and Israel tightened restrictions on the enclave.

Israel could not provide figures for how many sick Gazans were granted travel permits last year. A senior defence official denied the system caused unnecessary death, but said Israel was wary of would-be suicide bombers using illness as a cover.

Sound security measures by any standard.

Israel says its blockade on the enclave is a response to cross-border rocket fire by militants while international organisations have condemned it as collective punishment.

Well, they are harbouring the militants who are firing the rockets!

"Even under fire and under threat we still coordinate the health needs of Gaza's population," said Colonel Nir Press, head of Israel's Coordination and Liaison Administration for Gaza.

So, why are the idiots from WHO spending their time critisizing Israel instead of helping the hapless Palastinians?

Shortages of medicine, equipment and trained medics, which local officials blame on Israeli restrictions, mean advanced health care is virtually non-existent in the Gaza Strip.

They are worse than children!

Thousands of Gazans have been treated over the years in the Jewish state.

Those horrible Israelis. I wonder how much of a financial contribution either Hamas or the WHO have made.

The WHO said 32 Gazans died between October 1 and March 2 while waiting for travel permits.

Maybe they should speak out against the militants and their sworn aim to destroy Israel.

It could not provide comparative figures and said it was hard to measure whether faster treatment would have saved them, characterising many of the deaths as unnecessary.

"All these tragedies could have been easily avoided," WHO's head of office for the West Bank and Gaza, Ambrogio Manenti, told a news conference. Palestinian medical officials in Gaza say more than 100 Gaza patients have died since June after being denied permits.

Israel pulled troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip in 2005 but effectively still controls its borders. As does any sovereign nation. Palestinians say that means Israel must observe Geneva Convention obligations as an occupying power to provide services for the territory.

But they are NOT occupying it!

Egypt has allowed some Gazans in for treatment, but has agreed with Israel to keep its border largely closed. - Reuters - What can you expect!

The Politicians Fcuk it up again

2008-03-20T09:50:00.004+13:00

Cricket South Africa have done it again!

Because of their self-imposed quoata of 'black' players, Cricket SA have dropped fiery fast bowler Andre Nel and named Charl Langeveldt in his place for the upcoming tour to India. Now Nel clearly is the incumbent player and has the record to maintain his position. Langeveldt is a very good player as well, but does not have the test record. He still represents the Proteas, very capably, in the shortened version of the game.

Nel is pissed off. And so is Langeveldt who has withdrawn from the series as he does not want to be seen as a 'quota' player, and who can blame him. Both players are now reconsidering their cricketing futures - which is looking more and more like representing various counties as so many other South Africans do.

Monde Zondeki, a much 'darker' player than Langeveldt, has been called up as a replacement. Zondeki is a fine player but not quite up the standard of Langeveldt or Nel. He is a good prospect for the future and I wish him well, but he is not quite up there yet - especially for a hard tour to the Indian subcontinent.

So President of SA cricket, Norman Arendse, and the CEO, Gerald Majola have fcuked up the Proteas' chance of becoming No 2 in test cricket - to add to their No 1 position in ODI's. The last time they were No 2 (second to the Aussies) they were hoping to beat Aus in Aus, and ended up having a disasterous tour - mainly because of political 'selections' of the teams on the day of play which created such disharmony amongst the players and cost Shaun Pollock his captaincy. It has taken 4 - 5 years under Smith's captaincy to claw their way back to be able to challenge for the second spot.

All this is so unnecessary as the Proteas have being doing very well with their integration of the team. Herschelle Gibbs, Mkahya Ntini and Hashim Amla self-select themselves, and with classy players like Langeveldt, Zondi, Pietersen getting the occasional game in the test arena, the future for players of colour looks good.

Beauty

2008-03-19T11:20:00.003+13:00

http://www.kindgirls.com/gallery/metart/iren_2365/iren/16/0/

This is a collection of some beautiful photography of a very beautiful woman. It is definitely NOT work safe and if you do not want to view soft porn then do not follow the link.

Jennifer Lamiraqui

2008-03-16T21:30:00.000+13:00

That Arms Deal Again

2008-03-16T20:36:00.007+13:00

Business magnate and senior ANC leader Tokyo Sexwale has called on President Thabo Mbeki to explain his involvement in the controversial multibillion- rand arms deal.
Sexwale made an impassioned plea to a hushed ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on Friday for Mbeki “to take the ANC into his confidence” and explain whether there is any substance to the German investigation that has allegedly implicated Mbeki in arms-deal corruption.

- http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=727899

The multi-billion Rand arms deal will haunt the ANC for years to come. This German investigation is being piled up on top of the French arms company Thint AND the British company BAE's involvement.

What do we know at this stage?

- Jacob Zuma possibly accepted bribes from Thint and his financial 'advisor' has been jailed for his role in procuring 'inducements.

- Tony Blair flew to South Africa on several occasions to meet with the heirachy of the ANC, including Mandela and Mbeki, to ensure that this overpriced deal for arms that SA did not need went through.

- Arms giant ThyssenKrupp has desperately lobbied the government — in particular Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla — to head off a German investigation into South Africa’s arms deal scandal.

- South Africa’s former ambassador to France, Barbara Masekela, has revealed that Mbeki met representatives of the Thint, which is the same company accused of bribing Zuma.

- Tony Blair and the British arms company, BAE, are accused of some very dodgy deals with the Saudi arms deal.

- All investigations into the arms deal have been corrupted or terminated by the ANC government, including the first one set up by Mbeki which the former ANC member of parliament, Andrew Feinstein, was conducting and which he covers in his book (written in the UK where he now lives.

What are the rumours?

- That Nelson Mandela took a large bribe that was deposited in his children's fund. This has been denied by the administrators of that fund. However there is a strong rumour that Mandela has TWO separate accounts with similar sounding names - the one is the true children's fund and the other is, to put it delicately, for his own children in the future.

- That Mbeki and several other senior ANC members got a BIG inducement paid by the consortium and brokered by Tony Blair.

- That the ANC party got a generous donation to their election account.

Zuma is just a minion in this scandal. However it did not stop Panorama from leading with the question 'Are you a crook?' There is no doubt that he is, but a fairly stupid one at that. What I would like to know is WOULD PANORAMA ASK THE SAME QUESTION OF BLAIR? Is is it OK to ask a semi-literate black man questions like that but not your own former Prime Minister?

Blair is up to his eyeballs in this arms scandal.

So is Mbeki.

So is Mandela.

And so are the rest of the ANC hierachy - corrupt from the day they were formed. Thambo died a very rich man - having collected all the donations to help the 'poor enslaved South African blacks under the horrific Apartheid regime' and kept for himself and other 'exiles' living a hard life drumming up support from the leftists. Mandela is enormously wealthy - far beyond what he would have earned as President and from his books, Mbeki is enormously wealthy, etc, etc.

Corrupt, corrupt, corrupt. The ANC, the British-French-German arms deal consortium, and Tony Blair.

UPDATE: A very interesting read on the whole arms deal at http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71619?oid=87863&sn=Detail

UPDATE II: Further analysis of BAE's selection at http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71619?oid=82518&sn=Detail

and http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71619?oid=82519&sn=Detail

UK to nationalise Northern Rock bank

2008-02-18T10:33:00.003+13:00

New 9:30AM Monday February 18, 2008

British finance minister Alistair Darling has announced the temporary nationalisation of troubled bank Northern Rock, which was hit by the global credit crunch in August.
"The government has decided to bring forward legislation to bring Northern Rock into a temporary period of public ownership," he said during a press conference at the Treasury in London.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10493073

Hot on the heels of the government halting an investigation in BAE bribery involving the Saudi's, Browne's goverment has begun nationalising private entities. Granted Northern Rock's collapse has sent shudders through Britain's banking sector but 'temporary public ownership' is vastly different to being placed into 'receivership'.

His true colours are beginning to show and must be very worrying to the average Brit. It is no wonder that I'm getting approaches from highly qualified Brits about work in New Zealand.

Gabriela Baros

2008-02-16T19:13:00.001+13:00

"We are deeply concerned by the sentence passed on this young man for exercising freedom of speech," Prime Minister Helen Clark said

2008-02-16T19:01:00.007+13:00

Hypocrit!

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10492855

Summer

2008-02-10T09:50:00.000+13:00

View from Deck

View from Bedroom

Blogging has been a bit light - and for a very good reason. mawm and SWMBO have purchased a 'bach' (NZ colloquism for a seaside shack) on the Coromandel Penninsula. The summer has been spent at it bathing in the abundant sunshine that we have experienced, and assaulting our livers with lots of cold toxins stored in little brown/green bottles whilst watching the ever-changing play of light over the Pacific Ocean and the distant Mercury Islands.

Nightly rituals were held where pieces of animal were sacrificed over hot embers to ensure that the Gods of the sea and weather were placated (and with a high degree of success).

Preparation for Evening Ceremony (animal pictured is not the 'sacrificial lamb' and has a very important role in the ceremony in ensuring no evidence remains after completion)

dontvotelabour.org.nz

2008-01-09T14:25:00.000+13:00

Some interesting comments on the above site. I could add mine there but feel that they will just be swamped by the numbers.

I agree wholeheartedly with the website's intent and with the majority of comments that have been made. I fact I encourage all to wake up as to what Labour has done to this country and help ensure that they have no hand in running a government here again.

At present National is the only party that has any hope of providing the next Prime Minister. I do not agree with a lot of their policies or their politiking, but I will support them to ensure that we do have a change in government.

As a 'rich prick' (ie I work, pay my bills, other families' bills, Cullen and Clark's salaries, fund my own healthcare, pay for my daughter's education in a private school and will pay for my own retirement) I'm tired of the excessive taxation and the wastage of taxpayers money, the arrogant misuse of our money by these greedy, gloating Marxists, and their shameless buying of votes with my money.

DONTVOTELABOUR.ORG.NZ has the courage to stand up to these meddling, incompetent, fascist fools who call themselves our government.

Carolina Ardohain

2008-01-05T22:33:00.000+13:00

Yet another wonderful beauty to take your mind off Clinton H and Obama, Brown and Rudd, and how much of our money Labour is going to spend buying votes from educationally challenged brown people, druggies, alcoholics, teenage mothers, the lazy, slothful and ne'er-do-gooders, and students.

The only cheer I can get from that is that the students who voted for labour so as to get 'interest-free' loans are the one who will be paying it off in a couple of decades (with compounded interest).

ANC Leadership Battle

2007-12-17T10:16:00.000+13:00

The ANC National Conference is in progress at Polokwane at which they will elect their next leader. This will determine who the next President of South Africa will be. In the run up to these elections many names have been mentioned as possible contenders. Unfortunately the most able, especially Cyril Ramaphosa, seem to have fallen out of contention.

Two remain - Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma.

If Thabo Mbeki, incumbent President and leader of the party wins, although constitutionally he is not allowed to hold the Office of President of South Africa for a third term, he will essentially be able to name the next President (or even alter the Constitution to allow himself to stay on).

If Jacob Zuma wins he will be the next President.

The editorial from The Sunday Times has this to say about the two men :-

Mbeki has, as his advocates repeatedly proclaim, achieved impressive economic stability. Interest rates and inflation are down from the dangerous levels inherited in 1994 to well within global norms; economic growth is up from under 3% to above 5%; sustainable programmes have been put in place to give apartheid’s forgotten masses homes, water, electricity, schools and clinics.

But rising interest rates and inflation now threaten even that modest growth. Incompetence and corruption are undermining the delivery programmes of the democratic era. Taps are drying up, schools don’t produce functional graduates, the housing backlog is growing, the lights are going off, clinics remain locked, understaffed or short of medicines, and hospital standards are a disgrace.

Mbeki’s theoretical approach to the challenges of HIV/Aids, crime, Zimbabwe and global human rights has ignored their human contexts and alienated communities at home and abroad.

Zuma offers no alternative. His main campaign plank has been to promise more of the same and throw in some demagoguery here and there. As bankrupt of vision as he is of morals, he has travelled the world touting his lack of ideas as a virtue.

His promise to listen to advisers more schooled than himself is undermined by his record. He surrendered his affairs and his good name to a brotherhood of charlatans, at least one of whom has been proved corrupt.

His record as deputy president of the country is dismal. The South African National Aids Council virtually collapsed under his management, the Moral Regeneration Campaign languished and his stewardship of a plan to grow the “second economy” was made ridiculous when he fumbled questions about basic economic terminology.

He was found not guilty of raping a young family friend, but received a tongue lashing from a judge appalled by his personal values.

http://www.thetimes.co.za/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=662610

Zuma has the backing of COSATU, the massively powerful trade union movement; the SACP, although he has said he will not implement their Marxist policies immediately; and more recently the ANC Women's League which is in the hands of the odious Winnie Mandela.

Mbeki has his cronies and the beneficiaries of his largess to support him.

Either way South Africa will be the loser. At a time when the ANC could have stepped up and shown that they are more than a liberation movement, that African demagoguery is a thing of the past, that corruption and incompetence is unacceptable, and that South Africa can be the leader in a true African renaissance untouched by the scourge of corrupt, criminal leaders; they have failed miserably and unfortunately have joined the long list of African political failures.

"Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear." - Alan Paton "Cry,the Beloved Country".

Mayrin Villanueva

2007-12-02T12:50:00.000+13:00

Some more of the new Bond Girl

Sunday Wit from Jeremy Clarkson

2007-12-02T12:23:00.000+13:00

“This is the Renault Espace, probably the best of the people carriers. Not that that’s much to shout about. That’s like saying ‘Ooh good I’ve got syphilis, the BEST of the sexually transmitted diseases.’”

“I’m sorry, but having a DB9 on the drive and not driving it is a bit like having Keira Knightley in your bed and sleeping on the couch. If you’ve got even half a scrotum it’s not going to happen.”

“We start tonight with the highlight of my childhood. It’s the Ladybird Book of Motorcars from 1963, and as you would imagine it’s full of rubbish really. Just endless boring grey shapes, until you get to page 40, where you find the Maserati 3500 GT. Now this for me, when I was little, was like kind of Jordan and Cameron Diaz. In a bath together. With a Lightning jet fighter. And lots of jelly.”

“America: 250 million wankers living in a country with no word for wanker.”
On the Alfa Romeo Brera… “I only have to imagine this in black, with tan leather and I’m nursing a semi!”

On the Vauxhall Vectra VXR: “there is a word to describe this car: it begins with “s” and ends with “t” and its not “soot”.Hammond: “So its fairly terrible then?”Clarkson:”Oh no…losing your leg is fairly terrible: this is another league of badness!”

“…the Suzuki Wagon R should be avoided like unprotected sex with an Ethiopian transvestite.”

“Speed has never killed anyone, suddenly becoming stationary… that’s what gets you.”

“The air conditioning in Lambos used to be an asthmatic sitting in the dashboard blowing at you through a straw.”

“Koenigsegg are saying that the CCX is more comfortable. More comfortable than what… BEING STABBED?”

“The only person to ever look good in the back of a 4-seater convertible was Adolf Hitler.”

(Mercedes CLs55): “Braking in this car is so brutal, it would be less painful to actually hit the tree you were trying to miss.”

“I don’t understand bus lanes. Why do poor people have to get to places quicker than I do?”

“If we are being honest HIV is a pathetic virus, it can only live in the air for 6 seconds and it takes 10 years to do what ebola does to you in 10 days!”

On Mandela’s claim that Cuba is a good advert for democracy!!! “Well Mr Mandela why don’t you go and ask one of the 12 year old Cuban prostitutes which way her parents voted.”

On the Lotus Elise: “This car is more fun than the entire French Air Force crashing into a firework factory.”

“Racing cars which have been converted for road use never really work. It’s like making a hard core adult film, and then editing it so that it can be shown in British hotels. You’d just end up with a sort of half hour close up of some bloke’s sweaty face.”

On the Porsche Cayenne: “Honestly, I have seen more attractive gangrenous wounds than this. It has the sex appeal of a camel with gingivitis.”

The New Bond Girl?

2007-11-24T14:44:00.000+13:00

Mayrin Villaneuva

An Odious Piece of Lawmaking

2007-11-20T19:09:00.000+13:00

EDITORIAL from 'Hawks Bay today'

20.11.2007

WHEN the present Government departs office, it will do so with the martyr's sigh that it has been profoundly misunderstood. There will be no recriminations and there will be no insightful reflections. There will be just the pious conviction that the electorate had got it hopelessly wrong.

It is that zealous commitment to one's self that sustains politicians - of all stripes.

The election law is just such a case. Nothing in New Zealand's recent political history has been so comprehensively panned as that partisan piece of legislation. Even the accountants' professional body was moved to condemn it.

The Electoral Finance Bill was inspired by an instinctive hatred of personal wealth (especially when it benefits political opposition, as witnessed by the Exclusive Brethren's ridiculous attack on Labour and the Greens) and resentment by the Government that it was unable to steal public funds for its election campaigning. However, the overarching impulse, revealed in the desire to raise the weights of any opposition, has been to legislate to remain in power.
Of course, the bill has been characterised as a struggle between simple goodness and the dark forces of mammon, or as Prime Minister Helen Clark put it "to get the hollow men and secret money out of politics". It does neither.

In its revised form, the bill moderates the naked desire to clear the decks of political dissent. Plans to give Government advertising campaigns immunity and to suppress pressure groups were ditched (though the use of megaphones falls under the bill's ambit and an 11-month restriction on political expression before an election is the longest for any western democracy).

But while the bill meets its intentions of hurting National, which received $1.7 million through trusts in the last election, "anonymous" donations of up to $240,000 are still allowed (tellingly, not far short of Labour's anonymous donation haul in the last election).

If concerns about secret political funding were genuine - as they deserved to be - the bill's ambition would have been for full and complete transparency of donations instead of a Byzantine contraption to kneecap political opponents.

Perversely, to the righteous, any opposition to such an enterprise merely endorses it. When political survival is predicated on the need to be self-serving, it is difficult to attribute any other motive to one's critics. To the corrupt, all are corrupt.

Despite the changes to what many of its critics correctly deemed irredeemable, the bill remains an obnoxious piece of lawmaking for what has driven it, for the disdain it has shown to the principles of freedom of expression and fairness and for the loathing and contempt that it generates for those who, in principle anyway, we ought to be able to show at least a modicum of respect.

http://www.hbtoday.co.nz/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3755848&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=

Electoral Finance Bill

2007-11-14T09:57:00.000+13:00

Many have commented on this Bill and quite rightly have pointed out how flawed it is, how Labour need it to finance their elections because they are broke, how it stifles freedom of speech, the raiding of the public purse, etc.

I take a completely different approach to my objection. Essentially I believe that in no way, manner or form should public money, that is money we are compelled to pay through our taxes, the amount which is determined by the government of the day, fund any politician's election campaign.

If you really think about it, the EFB allows a government to ensure that they will always have enough money in the public bank to fund their campaign. A very flamboyant government might decide that they would like to run an American style campaign and spend billions on marketing themselves at your expense - and then make, no force, you pay for it.

This is not so far fetched. Labour have overtaxed us for 8 years and have billions available. They have already started to get verious ministries to produce plans to promote the 'successes' they have had with their policies, eg health and cheaper GP visits, working for families, etc. This is essentially campaining, but because there will be a parliamentary crest on the adverts, it will be legal for them to do it.

My second objection to the EFB is that politicians are applicants for the job of being a parliamentarian, for being the people who work for us to run our country. In the real world, in the commercial world, an applicant for a job, especially such a high paying job with such prestige, must get themselves trained at their own expense, make themselves presentable at their own expense and compete with others who have to do the same. In other words they have to fund their own campaign to get the job. So why should politicians be any different?

If they claim to represent a group, or a group wants to represented by a person, then that group should pay the costs of getting that person the job of representing them.

The argument that all groups should have an equal opportunity to be represented is fine, so if the group of like minded people is large enough, then very little money needs to be spent to ensure that they will have enough votes to get their representative elected. If wealthier groups have more money to try and attract others to their group so that they can have greater representation, so be it.

I also believe that a country is a bit like a company and we are all shareholders in that company. When there is such a huge difference in what some people pay for their shares (ie more tax), they should be awarded more shares in the company - after all it is their money that is being used to run the country. So maybe richer groups should have a greater say in how their taxes are spent.

Was Democracy ever meant to be mass rule? If so, then there will always be a majority of the less the wealthy dictating to the the wealth producers. This means that under a democratic system, the people who fund a government will always be under represented.

Is this fair? As a person who pays the taxes I would say not.

So what am I to do? If I use the analogy of staying in a hotel to represent what I can do, then it is quite simple. If the hotel is very expensive and does not provide the service that I would expect for paying so much, I can move to another hotel that promises more for less. And 3000 Kiwi's are doing just that every month and moving permanantly to Australia.

What will happen to New Zealand? The rich will leave and be replaced by people who are happy to live in a workers paradise because it is just so much better than where they came from - but it will always be the workers that stay on as the succesful entrepeneurs, in time, will be looking for better hotels - and the rich who foot the bills will always want to leave.

So, to come back to my original argument. The rich deserve to be represented and possibly in an unfair manner (to some). So if their money buys a few more votes, well they can pay for it themselves and they should have more say in how their taxes are spent as they pay the bulk of the money into the public purse. And the masses - they will always have adequate representation through having a sheer majority of numbers.