Radio NZ - Gorbachev vs Reagan

Posted to Sunday with Chris Laidlaw 29th September 2013

Thank you for going over the Mikhail Gorbachev story on you Program..
It’s odd how the Republicans in the USA are convinced Ronald Reagan brought down the end of the
Soviet Union using astrology and voodoo economics...

Where as in reality Reagan pushed the Human Race to the edge of Oblivion and wrecked the US Economy
When he could have easily done nothing. But as a trained actor he certainly knew all about timing.

What was odd was how the Iranian Hostages got released just as Reagan took office and he basked in glory then as well.
What was that all about? Oh No, don’t mess with him he is an actor !

I often Wonder what if... Carter got a second Term... Reagan was assassinated... Or Gorbachev was allowed on to finish his reforms...

How would it have worked out.. I know there are Writers who Speculate on such things but it would be hard a daunting task

As for the US They probably would need to start with an earlier flash point like:

If Lincoln had not Been Shot.. Or Turtledoves musings on what if Robert E Lee was advised by a Military Logistic Expert from the Future..

Radio NZ - Americas Cup Feel Good

Posted to Nine to Noon with Kathryn Ryan 27th of September 2013

I have to smile when I hear Camp Followers of the America’s Cup Crying to the Media that the Tax payer should fork out for another Challenge in four Years time
Especially because of the Feel good aspect of it... Well Yes, I can see why they Feel Good, but Ironically there are a lot of people who pretty Feel Lousy right now.

It’s not just the dark feeling of un-fair play. It’s when we blew 35 Million on money that could have helped save so many other slightly less Feel Good jobs around the Country.

What Surprises me is that Both the NZ Boat and the US boats where built in NZ and Both where made by the same People and yet the Yacht Builders tell us that they need welfare because despite building the top 2 Boats in the World, one of them lost the race!

What is not surprising is that some Economists are not impressed with these big windfall events and their trickle down effects. Yes they Fill the Beds and Bars for a few nights.

But how do we know the “Windfall Money” doesn't just go into Tropical Holidays and Real-estate Speculation. Then some ask that thorny question, How can we sleep after a Feel Good Big Party when People are suffering all around us?

Or where was the 35 million Bonus for the Government Owned Hillside Railway Workshops that are slightly less feel good on the National Pride hype machine? Why are People falling through the Cracks and taking their own lives in alarming numbers ? And Just How are all these Fell Good Schemes going to stand up when the Climate Change Debate Shifts it gears to the next level?

No Sorry I don’t “Feel Good” thank you very much.

Fiordland Advocate - Battle of the Lakes

Posted 26th September 20113 to the Fiordland Advocate Newspaper Te Anau

It was interesting that Gerry Forde’s people picked the Real Journeys Event Centre Stadium For their Fundraising  Battle of the Lakes event
To help the Manapouri Hall, as the Manapouri Hall would have been able to handle this event better, it would have been warmer and Acoustically Better as well as much better suited for lighting. And it has a stage.. It was great everybody pulled together on the night to make “The Battle Work” and Te Anau did pull the Hardest in the Tug of War. As for Technical Problems... I heard it described as a Marx Brothers Farce, but I have to hand it to my Wife Pauline, Who Worked the Fiordland Players stage lights that despite suffering from a fracture in her foot from a badly placed cable, the lighting did not fail, and despite severe pain she manage to make it right through to 2am! As they say, in any Battle there will be casualties.

Mountain Scene - Kelvin Heights Tunnel

Posted to the Mountain Scene Newspaper Queenstown 22 September 2013

Thanks Bryan Wilkinson Revisiting the Old Suggestion of a Perspex Kelly Tarlton Underwater Walkway to Kelvin Heights in this weeks Opinion Column.
It Remains the Best Tunnel Idea For Queenstown So Far!  Though an Underground Convention Complex near the Gondola
would be nice, Cool in Summer and Warm in Winter... Just like those Tunnel Shops in Salzberg Austria, another Tourist town short on space.

That reminds me, there is still no long term parking available in Central Queenstown for People using the Around the Mountain Bike Trail...
You might need to look at Kelvin Heights anyway...

Bathhurst Denniston Supreme Court Coal Debate

Posted to Busyness Day 20/9/13  stuff.co.nz

I don't want to Burst the Bubble but the Capitalist Economy is ONLY A GAME, it is not based on any Science at all.

To think for one moment that exploiting every last crumb of energy is going to save this insane system of wealth distribution is dangerous nonsense. Money is NOT made from Coal, it is manufactured electronically by the US Federal Reserve. Our Environment is REAL and as President Obama said,
Climate Chgange Denial is real Flat Earth Stuff.


Yes we should be honoured to dig coal with our bare hands for our Glorious Chinese Overloards.
I don't want to Burst the Bubble but the Capitalist Economy is ONLY A GAME, it is not based on any Science at all. 
To think for one moment that exploiting every last crumb of energy is going to save this insane system of wealth distribution is dangerous nonsense. Money is NOT made from Coal, it is Manufactured electronically by the US Federal Reserve. Our Environment is REAL and as President Obama said Climate Change denial is real Flat Earth Stuff,

I don't want to Burst the Bubble but the Capitalist Economy is ONLY A GAME, it is not based on any Science at all.
To think for one moment that exploiting every last crumb of energy is going to save this insane system of wealth distribution is dangerous nonsense. Money is NOT made from Coal, it is Manufactured electronically by the US Federal Reserve. Our Environment is REAL and as President Obama said Climate Change denial is real Flat Earth Stuff,

don't want to Burst the Bubble but the Capitalist Economy is ONLY A GAME, it is not based on any Science at all. 
To think for one moment that exploiting every last crumb of energy is going to save this insane system of wealth distribution is dangerous nonsense. Money is NOT made from Coal, it is Manufactured electronically by the US Federal Reserve. Our Environment is REAL and as President Obama said Climate Change denial is real Flat Earth Stuff,don't want to Burst the Bubble but the Capitalist Economy is ONLY A GAME, it is not based on any Science at all. 
To think for one moment that exploiting every last crumb of energy is going to save this insane system of wealth distribution is dangerous nonsense. Money is NOT made from Coal, it is Manufactured electronically by the US Federal Reserve. Our Environment is REAL and as President Obama said Climate Change denial is real Flat Earth Stuff,

Fiordland Advocate - Murder Mystery Night

Posted 9th of September 2013 to the Fiordland Advocate Te Anau.

I have to thank the Te Anau Lodge People for Putting on the Murder Mystery Gold Rush Event on August 24th.
Though it felt More like theatre sports Team Building with drinks, it proved to be an Interesting Night out..
My Wife and I got in at the last minute to Join Rosco’s Mexican Desperado band but Rosco’s Part as a Large, Garishly Dressed Bandito who not only Robbed the community but hid the Money from his gang ended up getting him the proverbial Bullet!
Most of the characters had serious flaws but one Hero Stood out who wasn’t even present, Margo Shaw the Costume Mistress for the Fiordland Players who supplied the bulk of the Fine Victoriana Outfits was given a great Toast at the Conclusion. And that being said some scouts from the Fiordland Players where surprised at some of the little known acting talent there was about that night. We hope the talented Te Anau Lodge cleaners where not too taxed the next morning for the tidy up.

Southland Express - Skateboard Parks

Posted 9th September 2013 to the Southland Express (Invercargill)

On Petrina Wrights Article.. Sep 5th
The Park Plans by Splash Palace are nice but It would be nice if Southland could do something unexpected and unique..

Like a Skateboard Luge track at Riverton? Or the Ultimate, Bluff Hill.  A Machine that lays a convex concrete skating surface may not be invented yet but it can’t be much different than a curb making machine. All you need is a Hill with a road to the top and let gravity do the rest.. Just don’t make it too steep and it could be fun for the whole family.. Or maybe a mounded area in the Forth Street Reserve would be a start?

Radio NZ - Mental Illness in Jails

Posted to Morning Report on 9/ Sept /13

I Hear you say there is a shortage of Beds for Mentally Ill Prisoners...

This is part of the push from the 1980s followers of the Church of Reagonomics to mainstream
People with Mental disorders by putting them into the community if they can, or in prisons...

When you hear of Insane acts of Violence in our communities just remember that in the past
when economics where Human based these things rarely happened.

Remember we once had Massive Mental Health institutions all over the country for those who couldn’t cope But that was before the Neo Liberal economic invasion took hold.

Mountain Scene - Hunter's Gold 1977 TV Series

Posted 5th Sept 2013 to the Mountain Scene Newspaper Queenstown.

I never got to see the original Screening of Hunter’s Gold released in 1977 but just caught up with it on DVD
It was a pity that TVNZ didn’t do a follow up Doco on the Making of Queenstown’s First TV Series to go with it.
There must be a few old hands who around who helped out... Locations are interesting the Shotover River “Village”
Is below lake Johnston by the looks of it and Moke Creek was used extensively.. Also Jane Campion inadvertently paid homage to Hunters Gold by using the same Moke Lake Location that features at the end of Hunters Gold when they talk of things to come... It must have been an exciting time for Queenstown. You probably have a story hidden in your early archives.

New York Times - Never Mind Syria

Posted 3rd September 2013 to the New York Times.

Sir:
Most Americans would honestly say we don’t know of any friends in Syria we need to help.
Or what side we should sell weapons to... Bill Maher has a point, We have all had a guts-full of War and
The as People of the Middle East are Hell-Bent on conflict and Killing... They are just going to have to do it them selves.

Japan is another Story, they have been sitting on their backsides wringing their hands for two years now while the Fukashima Power Plant Spews Radioactivity into our Pacific Ocean.

If we should get angry at anyone it should be them, because we will, one way or another we end up getting this stuff in our food chain and who knows what effect it will have on the Complex unseen Ecosystems of the Ocean floor near Japan.

All I can say is if America is trying to be the World’s moral compass it is doing a pretty lousy job of it!

Glorious Christchuch CBD Stadium

Posted 3rd September 2013 to the Christchurch Press

Perhaps we are just not getting the point of the New CBD Stadium,
Stalin use to keep people in work building huge State projects to glorify “the Party”
And the belief of his political System, A Stadium is also what the Roman Emperors would have
Wanted too as a way to impress Friends and foes alike with a symbol of mass popularity.

But this Stadium in question might as well be a mile high statue of John Key for all the use it is.
If the Government had any feeling for the process of Private Enterprise they would realise that Wealth
Rises up and never trickles down, If the People of Christchurch where just given the money as interest free loans
for the rebuild the population would work out on their own what to build, where to build it and what it should look like.
All in good time. Maybe structured like a Civic Fontera.

So Mr Brownlee if you want a good foundation for a great new City, start at the bottom with your greatest resourse: THE PEOPLE and start by listening to them!

A Bill Maher Message to Syria. RNZ

Posted to Lynn Freeman Radio New Zealand's Nine to Noon show August 29th 2013

The Idea that America should get involved in the Syrian Civil War is laughable
What Comedian Bill said recently with a play on words about Iran also applies to Syria I Recon..

America blew all it’s war budget in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as the War on Terror and Drugs Concept..

I'm sorry Syria, America can’t afford to go over and start bombing you as well..

You are just going to have to learn to KILL yourselves, We are just WAY too busy...

Bryan Bruce TV3 - Mind the Gap

Posted:  1st September to Radio NZ and 2nd September 2013 to Campbell Live

I hear a bit of talk about the TV3 Documentary on The Wealth Gap in NZ..
Hope you get Bryan Bruce back in to chat about it at some point..

In History Trickle-Down Economics works Perfectly if it flows from the masses to the Elite.
If only someone could just convince the Aussie Media Barons....

Mr Bruce forgot to mention the other member in the 80s Evil gang of Four:
Reagan, Thatcher, Douglas & MURDOCH


http://www.tv3.co.nz/INSIDE-NEW-ZEALAND-Mind-The-Gap/tabid/3692/articleID/94816/Default.aspx

Radio NZ - Craig Stanford & Elaine Morgan

Posted to and Read by Kim Hill  Radio New Zealand 31st August 2013

http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/sat/sat-20130831-0905-craig_stanford_planet_without_apes-048.mp3

Thanks Mark & Kim For Giving Elaine Morgan a mention
As per usual her Aquatic Ape theory gets stomped on by the establishment
They never answer her questions and ponder the strange attributes we share with
Aquatic Mammals.

As for meat... We eat Fish and Shelfish and they don’t bite back like land animals..
And we have the abitlilty to dive to get them..
And there is Lynn Cox... She Swam the Bering Straight in 1987 because she had a layer of fat like a that of a Walrus..

What’s that all about Mr Stanford?

So many Questions an no answers...


-------------------
Part 2

I know Craig will think, that, like the Late Elaine Morgan, I am not qualified enough to question...
But I also believe the Survival of the Great Apes is one of our Number One Priorities as Human Beings as well
In fact I was one of many who wrote to President Clinton asking that they be given Human Rights status under international Law
Yes, I question our modern morality to let them become extinct.
Perhaps it is time we review that Idea Again!


I am going to start protesting right now by not buying a smart phone!

Te Anau's Mayoral Yacht Departs

Posted 28 Aug 2013 to the Fiordland Advocate

It was the end of an era and a surprise to see the Late Murray Cardno’s Yacht Manuska at the Manapouri Motor Inn ready to get carted off to Dunedin (and then on to Sydney Austrailia)
I always thought if The Manuska was to reach the Sea it would have been via Lake Manapouri but over the Wilmot pass to Deep Cove.
A pity As she would have Made a Good Sight on Lake Manapouri!

Ironically it is Manapouri that could do the best job of remembering the Manuska if the Council Takes up my recommendation that the un-named Wetland Reserve at the New Motorau heights Subdivision is to be named after our Retiring District Mayor’s Childhood Nick Name.