Government Sugar Tax Sugestion

Posted 23 April 2016 to the Southland Times Newspaper Invercargill NZ

  Just adding to the Topic about Taxing Sugar,
Sugar is a Funny thing if you want less in your processed food you pay twice as much!
 It makes no sense if you think about it.

Most Processed Foods have too much Sugar & Salt in them  So why not sell foods where you add your own
To your taste ?  We get conditioned to so much sweetening and Sodium that food tastes bland without it..
Shouldn't we be allowed to season to our tastes?

Here is a thought... If all food was tasteless would there still be very fat people?
In Wartime England where plain Vegetables where the only un rationed food The population was never so  healthy.

Today if you try to eat low sugar foods just try and see what kind of selection is on offer and what you pay.
Better yet, try and find only naturally sweetened foods and see how far you get. 

New Zealand's Chinese Tourism Pains

Posted 23rd April 2016 to the Otago Daily Times Newspaper Dunedin NZ

Our Mr John Key is trying out his cowboy statesmanship again as Minister of Tourism when it comes to the Chinese Tourism Debacle that is New Zealand..

How long is this boom going to last? If Bernie Sanders Gets power in the USA  America will want it’s Corporations to Stop Sending Money and Jobs to China
And I the US goes that way other will Follow... So China will take a hit.

Oh yes if Bernie doesn't get in there is still a problem with Industrial Carbon that Humanity has to deal with... And the Rise of Robotic Job Replacement...
And an overwhelming desire for Socialism.

There is also a “Pending Backlash” from Kiwis who don’t want a Million Chinese dropped on top of our fragile environment and Infrastructure...
There are our Lucrative European Tourist who are getting Elbowed of the picture out by the Citizens of the People’s Republic.
There is the Impossible Logistics of the Chinese all coming in one week and expecting there to be enough trained people available to deal with them
For one short window of time. 

As for investing in Tourism... I recall a noted economist saying “Why would You?” It is a rubbish industry with rubbish jobs... John Key has just taken it to a whole New Level..
Somewhere down in the basement. 

* Not Selected for Publication.
 

Oliver Stone on the great US Empire

Posted 24th March 2016 to the Jim Mora Panel Radio New Zealand

 Jim, As Film Maker Oliver Stone pointed out we live in a FOG trapped by our Culture of the here and now
In his untold History of the United States TV Series he recalls all the Nasty Things we in the West have done that burns on and we try hard to forget.

We and our Corporations have caused Millions of Deaths and Displaced People on an Industrial Scale over the last 100 years
Our history is sanitized to a point we are in a DAZE and Ask Repeatedly “How did this Happen “? every time our society shows a crack in its mask of benevolence.

Fact is the USA is literally Running out of Bombs trying to put out fire with fire, to keep us all safe from the mess we have made of this Planet .. It getting harder to know who are the bad guys when you are in the Fog of a patriotic Smoke Screen...
 

Wilding Pines of New Zealand

Posted 23rd of April 2016 to the Fiordland Advocate Newspaper Te Anau NZ

 We read that the natural Self Seeding of Pine Trees in New Zealand is offending people again
It seems to be a NZ thing that some Trees have to conform to a set of rules or pay for their anarchist immoral ways.
It is somewhat odd to me that this has become a political “thing” when it is clear that all our Real Ecological Disasters
are cause by unfettered capitalism combined with an almost reckless lack of Statesmanship from our elected leaders,
Velvet-Leaf being the latest in a pile of stuff ups.

The Idea there is No Place in New Zealand for Exotic Flora seems to be somewhat quaint in the face of Global Climate Change
but our Government appears to think the Anthopocene (the era of Human Modification of the Planet) is not applicable to remote
Island Nations so I can not see our situation getting any better... Pine Seeds or no. 

DNA Cutting News: Anthropocene Revolution

Posted 29th March to the Southland Times Newspaper Invercargill NZ

Buried on page 12 of the Southland Times of March 21st  there was a story about DNA Editing or “CRISPR”
 it is interesting how innovations with truly massive implications are not seen as important news like Sports and Crime
Yet the editing of Human Embryos and the genetics of other species is a real Game Changer.
Imagine a World full of strong mentally and physically perfected people and management of Plant and Animal Pests as well as harmful Microbes.
Well that door is now open to the true heart of the “Anthropocene” era we now live in.

If we can survive the transformation from emotional irrational reckless paranoid societies to SMART benevolent ones, as this will be a great turning point
For all Humanity.

I suppose that all depends on who will be the person who replaces the current sitting US President and the emotional irrational reckless paranoid political system
that one person has to deal with.

If Charles Darwin where here I think he would agree we are going to need to adapt. 

New Zealand's Fiordland National Park Strategy 2016

Posted 6th March 2016 to the Southland Times Newspaper Invercargill NZ

Last Fridays Edition of the Southland Times evokes some comment I think.
With budget airfares bringing more young people with very little or no spending money to NZ we have to
consider how we deal with them to keep them out of trouble. The Department of Conservation has been great at
providing budget campsites on an industrial scale but there are no real Budget Walks of Boat Trips in our National Parks.

It is worth mentioning that our Government has been actively cutting back maintenance services to Lesser Tracks and Huts
and that all the promotional focus has been on Great Walks big name hikes.

Also in this region the call for a proper Winter Track in Fiordland has been dismissed, forcing people into the Alpine Danger Zones

To me the sad thing is that we once promoted “People in Parks” as a national pastime now we only get Rich People in Parks,
and young people or working kiwis and guest workers are left out in the cold by our so called representatives.   

Louis and Lemieux died on the Jackson Peaks for several reasons. One should not be because they had a desire for adventure.

Stock Market Gitters in Heartland NZ ?

Posted 14th of February 2016 to the Southland Times Newspaper Invercargill NZ

Looking at the Stock Market slumping again one has to admit Life is not always fair, it is funny that it is usually people who for the top end of the heap get overlooked
What happens when you sell your farm and you need to reinvent yourself with only a Bag full of Money to live on?
It no laughing matter  no one cares that it’s impossible to find a stable investment portfolio to put all your money in.
You can always buy a nice lifestyle Block in the Southern Lakes Region and Graze Lawn Tractors, tourism is way too seasonal
And darn hard work. Yes you can buy a Big shed to Put your Trophy Boat behind your trophy house for occasional trout chasing for dinner but that’s not as lucrative as it seems.
Even grouching at “poor people” for being lazy “takers” with a pension for finding bad luck seems a fruitless pastime.
These Affluent people are a endangered breed and should be treated with great reverence as they came from a time when hard work was rewarded and they had parents who passed farms on to their Children,
If not, University was free and the State was like a caring thoughtful uncle. Toughen up and She’ll be right worked well then.
Today our investments do all the real earning instead of elbow grease and it somehow it makes people grouchy, maybe because we know from history, time and again it can vanish in a flash. And who do we blame? and how can we toughen up then?