ALL OVER DOWN UNDER. Date line Wednesday 28th. June, 2008.
Critical comments made earlier in the year regarding the effect on those All-Black rugby players who use peroxide instead of brylcream to beautify their locks, was re-in forced when viewing the Super 14 semi-final in Christchurch last Saturday night. Watching poor Jerry(him with the multi cultural heritage, but not a drop of Irish) go through the motions of "I am the most awesome battering ram in the World", yes even better than Chavez, the wolf from France, but sadly it was almost embarrassing to look at. not because The Hurricanes lost the game, but it clarified once and for all, and that includes Graham Henry, who astonishingly was re-appointed as the All-Blacks coach, that poor old Jerry is well and truly past it. A bit sad, but the following day he pre-empted the selectors announcement of the panel from which the team to play England and Ireland next month will be selected from, by calling a press conference in Wellington on Sunday and telling all and sundry that he was off to Europe and see youse all later. Which left Henry with nothing left except to say that he would not have made the squad in any case. Pathetic Graham! At least Collins can retire from the international arena with a degree of dignity, which is mort than plonker can, at least not yet.
Another to join the has been's club, is also a "change the colour with the mood" merchant Nick Evans ( evry colour to date except pure blond). He's off as well, so the team to be selected will definetly be a 2nd. fifteen lot, which is only marginally better than the team that the mob that the Pom's are sending here. But just in case you think that this will see a reduction in the cost of a ticket to any of the test games, then dream on. Only the Irish will try and field the best available. So the final comment is simply that the more things change, the more that they stay the same.
Cheers,
Mick.
Tuesday 27 May 2008
Tuesday 6 May 2008
All over down under
Recent publicity regarding the capture of Mr. Xue in a small town in rural America, who was being sought by the Police in New Zealand, in connection with the murder of his wife in Auckland, and the abandonment of his daughter in the railway station in Melbourne, has highlighted a perceived hypocrisy in the payment of the reward, and the amount of money involved.
A hoorah surrounding the presentiontation of the $10,000 to the Chinese immigrants who had captured Mr. Xue, by the both the Police and various Govermnent ministers, including the Prime Minsister herself, who made an absolute feast out of the occasion, seemed to be in total conflict with payment of $500,000 to the gang members who had provided information which led to the return of the medals which some of their mates had stolen from the Army museum in Wairoa.
It would appear that in the eyes of the authorities, the return of medals was far more important than the capture of a suspect in a murder case. Well at least they are consistent in their efforts to win re-election to Government next November, which leads us to the latest headlines regarding the re-purchase of New Zealand Rail from Toll Holdings of Australia, who are reported to be laughing all the way to the bank with a balance sheet enhanced by a sum exceeding $200 million, and better again, no further responsility for running the dog which that organization has allwasy been. A flea bitten one at that, and allready people are writting to the papers relishing the anticipation that return of rail to provincial New Zealand. Nobody it would appear has read the small print that the Government has no intention what ever for rail to do this. The main pupose behind the purchase was to enhance and improve the system to carry more freight, not in itself a bad thing had they not paid the amount that they did pay, but the if the gullable public think that all of a sudden we are going to see a tunel being built under Albert Park to complet the loop which at the moment is missing, to connect Kay road and Mt. Eden with the rest of the network, not to mention a new connection to the Airport, then are serioulsly deluded. It will not happen.
But at the end of the day, desperate situations require desperate remedies, and the very prospect of being tufed out of office, and losing all those perks, including the chaufer driven BMW's, msut be frightening the crap out of them.
Sadly this bribe, unlike the student loan bribe at the last election, which most people concluded was not a bad idea, will at the end of day, cost the taxpayer dearly.
An whilst we are on the subject of cost and bad ideas, how about those bozzos who vandalized the plastic dome covering the satelite communication equipment near Nelson. What about that for another dozey idea. I used to know Fr. Murnane when he was the Friar at St. Benedicts in Newton. A rather strange man, who allways seemed to be in another space. Dissconnected might be one way of describing him, but we allways assumed that Christian people, especially those in positions of authority, were not only responsible, but also possesed of a wisdom that most of us did not have.
Just shows you how wrong you can be, because that act had not a redeeming feature about it. It was pure and simple vandalism, which has been justified as an action in protest at the war mongering agendas of the US. Well fellas I have news for you. There are not an insignificant number of us who are very happy that those guys, though not perfect, provide a degree of protection against the threat of gobal terrirosts.
And by way of a conclusion, it would be remiss not to mention the turnout of mainly Chinese students recently at a rally in Auckland, supporting their Governments stand on Tibet, and in particular the forthcoming Olympic Games in Bejing next August. Their Nationalistic fervour, displayed in a peaceful manner, was refreshingly different from the onslaught of news that we have been subjected to over recent months regarding the protests from around the world wherever the Olynpic torch was carried. If you do not know, or have not studied the background to the situation in Tibet, then why not simply mind your own business.
Cheers,
Mick.
A hoorah surrounding the presentiontation of the $10,000 to the Chinese immigrants who had captured Mr. Xue, by the both the Police and various Govermnent ministers, including the Prime Minsister herself, who made an absolute feast out of the occasion, seemed to be in total conflict with payment of $500,000 to the gang members who had provided information which led to the return of the medals which some of their mates had stolen from the Army museum in Wairoa.
It would appear that in the eyes of the authorities, the return of medals was far more important than the capture of a suspect in a murder case. Well at least they are consistent in their efforts to win re-election to Government next November, which leads us to the latest headlines regarding the re-purchase of New Zealand Rail from Toll Holdings of Australia, who are reported to be laughing all the way to the bank with a balance sheet enhanced by a sum exceeding $200 million, and better again, no further responsility for running the dog which that organization has allwasy been. A flea bitten one at that, and allready people are writting to the papers relishing the anticipation that return of rail to provincial New Zealand. Nobody it would appear has read the small print that the Government has no intention what ever for rail to do this. The main pupose behind the purchase was to enhance and improve the system to carry more freight, not in itself a bad thing had they not paid the amount that they did pay, but the if the gullable public think that all of a sudden we are going to see a tunel being built under Albert Park to complet the loop which at the moment is missing, to connect Kay road and Mt. Eden with the rest of the network, not to mention a new connection to the Airport, then are serioulsly deluded. It will not happen.
But at the end of the day, desperate situations require desperate remedies, and the very prospect of being tufed out of office, and losing all those perks, including the chaufer driven BMW's, msut be frightening the crap out of them.
Sadly this bribe, unlike the student loan bribe at the last election, which most people concluded was not a bad idea, will at the end of day, cost the taxpayer dearly.
An whilst we are on the subject of cost and bad ideas, how about those bozzos who vandalized the plastic dome covering the satelite communication equipment near Nelson. What about that for another dozey idea. I used to know Fr. Murnane when he was the Friar at St. Benedicts in Newton. A rather strange man, who allways seemed to be in another space. Dissconnected might be one way of describing him, but we allways assumed that Christian people, especially those in positions of authority, were not only responsible, but also possesed of a wisdom that most of us did not have.
Just shows you how wrong you can be, because that act had not a redeeming feature about it. It was pure and simple vandalism, which has been justified as an action in protest at the war mongering agendas of the US. Well fellas I have news for you. There are not an insignificant number of us who are very happy that those guys, though not perfect, provide a degree of protection against the threat of gobal terrirosts.
And by way of a conclusion, it would be remiss not to mention the turnout of mainly Chinese students recently at a rally in Auckland, supporting their Governments stand on Tibet, and in particular the forthcoming Olympic Games in Bejing next August. Their Nationalistic fervour, displayed in a peaceful manner, was refreshingly different from the onslaught of news that we have been subjected to over recent months regarding the protests from around the world wherever the Olynpic torch was carried. If you do not know, or have not studied the background to the situation in Tibet, then why not simply mind your own business.
Cheers,
Mick.
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