I really struggle with this one. On the one hand, somewhere in my psyche I can really understand where the detractors are coming from. In these PC times, not only are you not allowed to make fun of any "minority", you're not even allowed to let slip anything that remotely sounds like mirth about said minorities. Especially if you're the President of the United States.
But on the other hand, I think this is an example of how dangerously sensitive everyone has become. It is now only permissible to make fun of middle-class, employed, white males. Anybody outside of that demographic is out of bounds.
Minority groups have labels, often derogatory, for those who are not of their own persuasion. Gays can knock straights until the cows come home, but god forbid somebody straight says - or even thinks - anything remotely homophobic. The thought police are on their doorstep quick smart. Ethnic minorities can say whatever they like about whites, no matter how defamatory, and can discuss openly and hatefully their history. But woe betide paleskins who remind Maoris or Asians, or African Americans of their own unsavoury history.
There was a Maori woman, an academic I want to say was Margaret Mutu, on TV ages ago, and I was stunned at her unrestrained re-definition of the word racism. She said it was discrimination based on race by those with enough authority to enforce it. And I thought OMG! She was on Eye to Eye so of course she went unchallenged. How pointless would it be to ever challenge a Maori woman on anything anyway? The race card would be out only slightly quicker than the gender card and then all discussion would halt.
So apparently it is not possible for Maoris to be racist. I wish I had known that when I was growing up in The Block (note the house in this article, number 36, is THE house I used to live in!). I would have felt much better about the daily - hourly - taunts and threats I received simply because I was pakeha. If I had known I was the one with all the authority I'm sure my childhood would have been much less terrifying and dangerous.
And I would have felt much less sensitive about the derogatory remarks I had thrown at me from the State houses as I walked to school or the dairy or my milk run.
Obama has been accused of being out of touch, because of his "special olympics" remark. I think it lets us know how NORMAL he is. He let slip that his thought processes are just like 99% of us who have not been corrupted by the PC virus. I have heard downs syndrome people make fun of "normal" people. But if Mutu's definition can cross demographic boundaries, it's perfectly okay.
Another example. It seems quite legitimate that Christians can be the targets of derision and hate, but don't dare make fun of Muslims.
Poor Obama had to call the Special Olympics guy from Air Force One, even before the Leno show aired. Give him credit for being pro-active on that, I guess.
If only we could invent a way, if only this were a world when unmet people could say you charm me and I’d like to know who you are. With a code: ‘No thanks,’ if the charm might not be mutual. - Richard Bach
I don’t encounter too many people by whom I am charmed. That is either an indictment on society, or on me.
It seems people are not very connected anymore, or if they ever were they are now not as so. Which is a shame. It seems our default setting is suspicion, or contempt, or cynicism, or anger. We are polite to a point, amicable to a point, connected to a point. Beyond that the claws come out.
We are, by and large, intolerant. We care little for the expressions of others, unless there is some gain for us. We are increasingly aware of the importance of privacy – perhaps, unfortunately, for good reason – and obsessively protective of it. We are increasingly sensitive to the advances of others.
Or has it always been that way?
Perhaps in the “good old days” we were just as sensitive, but more adept at suppressing it because of social conventions no longer in play.
People wear their hearts on their sleeves less now. While honesty used to be the theatre of the discreet, it is now the hostage of the politically correct.
Apparently even in the 70s when Bach wrote A Bridge Across Forever, a confession of charm was not a simple thing. Even now it can be translated a myriad of ways.
I like that skirt.
You have a lovely smile.
Your perfume smells wonderful.
I think you’re beautiful.
I love you.
I think we should be afforded five minutes of confession - isn’t it good for the soul? - at random times during the day. Five minutes of honesty without agenda, and without consequence. An opportunity to bear your soul without fear of rejection and without damaging your future interactions.
I’d love that.
Hasn't the Labour Party shown its true colours. I seem to remember strong denials from the Labour spin doctors, and even Clark herself, about a possible cushy number with the UN. Now? Clark's in New York for a job interview - a cushy position with the UN. Not only did she run the country into the ground in her 9 years as PM, but she certainly managed to feather her nest for her retirement, didn't she.
And now her sycophant 2IC is leaving politics. Building a house in the Bay of Plenty. Nice for some. Glad our tax dollars have set him up well.
And the political leftovers, Phil Goff and the only other Labour MP to be heard lately, Clayton Cosgrove, are showing themselves to be truly ignorant and out of touch indeed. Goff is criticising the national government for stuff now that is so clearly the detritus of their pathetic attempt at leadership over the last 9 years.
I used to like Phil Goff. Not now. He has taken over the contempt Clark and Cullen had for regular Kiwis. Does he think we are so stupid that we've already forgotten that it was them that got us into a lot of the crap New Zealand is in now? I know some of it is global, but what did they do to protect us from what a lot of New Zealanders KNEW was coming?
They just make themselves look pathetic when they criticise the present government for stuff they got us into. But I'm sure his retirement is secure. His property is secure. His job will continue, probably with a pay rise. His family will have food, and the power bill will be paid.
Why should he give a shit about any of us?
Ever wondered what spoilt little white kids get up to on the weekends? On your tax dollars? Isn't it great to see what the future looks like?
What is truly disturbing is that this lovely little flower will probably see this photo in the newspaper and be proud of it. Think it's cool. Her mates will praise her.
I wonder who she is? Remember that Chinese woman, or maybe she was Japanese, who was mercilessly hounded by photo-vigilantes and paparazzi because she had committed some social faux pas? I can't even remember what it was, but she was followed and photographed and humiliated for . . well, at least a week.
Anyway, I think it would be great if this little angel became the poster girl for everything that's wrong in the world. Find her. Identify her. Out her. Blitz her Facebook page. Hound her. Humiliate her. SHAME her. And then send her a bill for every cent of our tax money she's drank and then puked.
And then go after her mates.
. . . I'm getting a bit sick of some of these companies pleading hard times. Fisher and Paykel is just the latest, but a very clear example of the current environment, a la GM and the big three (or is it five?) flying in their corporate jets to talk to George W about a handout.
It seems to me that these companies (is DB going to be next ?) are not sacking hard-working employees to stay afloat. They are out-sourcing and down-sizing so that the profits can remain level. And so that the executives can maintain their current salaries (or there abouts).
Jeez life must be tough for John Bongard. His 7.5% salary cut will still leave him with something like a cool million a year. He's overseen massive job cuts at his company. Those minimum wage (or not much more I'm sure) jobs were outsourced to slave labour in Thailand and Mexico where they probably pay the workers 8 cents per hour, and he's sanctimoniously offering to drop his salary by the price of a new Mercedes. Damn! He might just have to drive last years model.
And he's gone cap in hand to the New Zealand taxpayer (so to speak) for a hand-out. He wants MY tax dollars so he can keep his wife in Gucci shoes and his mistresses in pretty lingerie.
So this year they're only going to make 30 million profit. I'm sure the ripple effect is going to mean little old mums and dads relying on their F&P dividend are going to have to turn the heater down this winter, but that's better than being one of the now unemployed F&P factory workers who won't have any heat at all.
I'd be willing to bet Bongard has a lovely palatial house somewhere on Paratai Drive. Maybe his ex-employees could front up there for soup and accommodation in the gardener's quarters.
So, I bought a new computer. I don't know why I bothered. Technology is so far behind human evolution, it's sad. I think with as many geeks squirrelled away in musty cubicles, technology, especially computers, should be way ahead of where it is.
Take this new laptop. It's pretty nice. Thousand bucks, so it's not top of the line, but it works, which, i suppose was a good start. Then of course, because I don't have a PhD in computer geekery, I had to spend an hour on the phone to Xtra (who were very helpful, I must say, given their obviously limited resources) @configuring@ the broadband. And did you notice the @ symbol instead of the " symbol? That's because while my new laptop is very pretty and by and large works very fast and very well, the Shift 2 button, which on every other computer in the Western world is the @ symbol, is in fact the " symbol. Despite there being a @ picture above the 2. And when I push the Shift " button, I get a @. WTF?
Technology. Jeez.
So after my hour phone call with "Mark" from Manila (probably) and another 20 minute call to Xtra to learn that I had to reset the modem, I went to bed frustrated as hell. I had already spent 18 hours the night before waiting for the battery to fully charge before I could touch the machine. So another night passed with very little progress on the new computer.
Then the real fun begins. Transferring stuff and loading software. Good grief. Doesn't that sound pathetic. Transfer files - Word documents, pictures, favourites, email contacts and files. I'm not even going to think about the music. I'll just have to hope my MP3 player doesn't die, which given the state of technology, it probably will at some point. Soon.
Load the software for Digital Recorder, Mobile modem, Office 2003 because the demo 2007 on this machine will self-destruct after 25 opens, then I'll be liable for who knows how many more hundreds of dollars to upgrade. Then, probably the most important of my little gadgets, my PDA. Won't load. Not compatible with Vista. You're kidding me! What? OMG!
So Jackie gets all pro-active and gets a good deal on a new PDA. Software won't load and is probably not compatible with Vista.
This is exactly the reason I wanted a new laptop with XP on it, but of course there aren't many of them around any more. Fucking Bill Gates and his monopoly!
So now I am PDA-less - well, okay I have to sync my PDA with the home desktop and transfer with a flashdrive the files I'll be editing on the PDA. Small hassle I guess, but a hassle nonetheless. Until I can spring for a better new PDA, no doubt more several hundreds of dollars.
And I still can't fix the @ " mix-up on my keyboard. Oh, and the hash button is a £ sign and I cant find the hash button anywhere. So I hope in the next few years of using this computer I don't need the hash symbol.
Why can't computers be like the ones on Star Trek?
You sit down in front of it, tell it what to do, and it does it. "Computer, load everything from that computer onto this one, only make it better." And it's done a millisecond later. i guess in these antiquated times I would settle for having to plug a cord between the two computers, but even that's antiquated. How many cords do we need? Power cable, in two sections, with that big box thing that heats up; USB cables for Africa; sync and power cables for the PDA which is now useless; ethernet cable for modem (even though it's "wireless"), more power cables for each device and probably a few more USB cables (printer, camera, MP3 player).
Flashdrives are now like floppy disks were, and then CDs. They lay around and you never know whats on them because at least floppys and DCs had spaces on them to write what's on them.
Why in the 21st Century are things so antiquated?
And don't get me started on the Internet. It's just as antiquated and cumbersome as the technology it demands to use it. Is it pretty much used only for games and porn now? Oh, and blogging of course.
I don't know whay I bother.
What is it about Marian Keyes?
You know how you just adore some people? I don't normally gravitate towards "celebrities". I think being a "fan" is actually a little bit pathetic. It's okay to enjoy someone's music and even buy their CD, or to enjoy watching some actorr more than others, but to graduate to full "fan" status always struck me as a bit juvenile. I adore Geri Halliwell, 
but mostly I think it's because she used to be a gorgeous voluptuous red-head. But I think I also appreciated that she seemed more "real" than the others Spice Girls. And I don't care what anybody says, she's by far been the most successful in her own right of all the Spicies.
Anyway, I think there's something similar about Marian Keyes. Apart from the fact that she's an incredibly talented writer (envy), she just seems to be a bit "real". She's open about her difficult past, she's self-deprecating, which can be adorable when done in the right way. She's little and cute, and of course there's the whole Irish thing.
I think I have Irish in my past lives. Something about the Irish accent that touches my soul. That and the Southern Belle persona (but that's another blog).
I love statements that start like that.
Nowadays it's a mortal sin to suggest in any way that Maori are anything but perfect citizens (the crime statistics notwithstanding). But it's come to the point that in everything there is not only a pro-Maori agenda, but there is a subtle anti-everything else undertone.
Case in point, and remember, it's only very subtle.
These pics were taken recently at Te Papa. I read them, and stood for a while contemplating my reaction to it. If it were possible to offend me, I might have felt a little offended. Perhaps I'm being a little sensitive, but I don't think so.
According to the first set of numbers, Maori reduced the native forest cover by 45%. According to the second set of numbers Pakeha reduced the native forest cover from 55% to 25%, which if my maths is correct, is a reduction of 30%.
So if Maori reduced it by 45%, and Pakeha by 30%, how come the Pakeha reduction is labelled as "intensive forest clearance"?
To me, "intensive forest clearance" sounds very negative, as if Pakeha cam here and started ripping down forest like there was no tomorrow. But their ("our") efforts have been significantly less than the early Maori. And how much of the 30% ascribed to Pakeha actually includes the continuation of the Maori operations? It's fair to say Pakeha played no part in the pre-European 45%, but it's also fair to assume that some of the 30% post-European reduction can be attributed to Maori.
So why, in our national museum, does the Pakeha come off looking like they're the ones who have decimated the native forest in new Zealand?
Irritable hip. Now, I'll have to bite my tongue. I've had a very stressful day. I'm sympathetic to the shortcomings of the New Zealand health system, and by and large the people involved are good people under a lot of pressure.
However, that can't stop me from being very critical of it at a number of levels.
Our GP said Josh's sore leg was very likely "irritable hip." Irritable hip? Yes. Very common among three and four year olds. What? Common?
I've heard of whooping cough. Measles. Chicken pox. Croup. Hand, foot and mouth. Mumps. These things I've heard of and recognise as "common". Cold, flu, asthma. These are "common" things kids get. Irritable hip? What the hell is that?
Apparently it may be precipitated by a viral infection, but not necessarily (that's according to Wikipedia). It was confirmed today that the cause really is unknown.
How come, though, I've never heard of it. Has anyone?
And here's where I get really annoyed. Seven hours we were at the hospital. The first thing they decided was that it was necessary to put a line in the back of Josh's hand. Yeah, right. Like that was going to happen.
With him straddling me and his arms around my neck, and with FIVE ED staff working on him screaming and struggling for what must have been ten to fifteen minutes, they finally got the line in his hand and got it strapped up. So they could take blood, and if they needed to use it later. In an emergency maybe? Who knows? So with the trauma of that event still raw in all our minds, they thought it would be good to do an xray. Well, Josh definitely wasn't having that, so we flagged that idea. After an hour or so, he relented and as so often happens, actually enjoyed it. He thought the lead vests mummy and daddy had to wear were a hoot. Generally they do a good job of making the kids feel happy about being in a terribly frightening situation. Josh has never been near a hospital, never even been really sick, or hurt.
Three nurses and doctors, same set of questions, same answers. More waiting. Blood results are good. Nothing out of the ordinary - no infection. If he can walk on it, even a little, he can go home. Come back tomorrow to see the consultant.
By now, Josh has forgotten about his hip. The paracetemol and ibuprofen are wearing off and his main concern is the contraption in his hand. Leave it in just a little longer. One more blood test result to come back. Another thirty minutes, and if Josh can walk on his leg they can take the line out and we can go home. Josh is ready to run a marathon if it means getting that line out. He hobbles to the toilet, and along the corridor back to the room. Now can you take this thing out of my hand?
Did they use it? No. So what was the point of having it in there? With all the stress and trauma of putting it in, surely it would have been better to leave it. What sort of emergency is going to happen with a sore hip?
Anyway. While the x-ray was finally fun for him, and there seems to be no long term damage, except a dark bruise on the back of his hand, I'm reminded of something Doctor McCoy said on Star Trek. He commented on how barbaric the medical profession was in the 20th Century.
I agree.
I such situations I tend along the philosophical. After millions of years of evolution, the human body is still so frail (actually I think evolution is a bit of a crock)? After hundreds of years of research in medicine and practise, the best we can do is needles in hands and x-rays? Cutting people open? Incurable diseases? In the 21st Century? Good grief.
Another day at the hospital tomorrow.
I was going to write something this morning at 6 as Obama was giving his inauguration speech. Now, twelve hours later anything I say will unfortunately just be parroting a lot of what has been said today.
The speech was highly anticipated, and completely under-delivered. There was no discernable thread running through it and holding it together, no central idea. There were only one or two memorable lines but because they were mixed in with so many cliches and long sentences replete with meaningless redundancies they were totally lost.
What happened to "Yes, we can." That was memorable. That had meaning. That was a hook that kept us in the speech. There were no such hooks today. I suspect most of the audience had glazed eyes after the first three minutes. They walked away with nothing. They were cheated.
I like Obama, but it will take more than his good oratory skills to save the world. First he needs to dump the 27 year old speech writer. He blew it today. Of course, Obama would have had a heavy hand in it so to some degree he blew it too.
Chief Justice Roberts should be considering his career options. Stumbling in the first sentence of the oath made for a bad start indeed. Even the smooth operator Obama took a while to recover.
I hate all the hype about Obama being black. He asked to be treated on his merit, not his skin colour. Yeah, right. Like that was going to happen.
His skin is black, but he's white through and through. He's not "African American". He was raised by his white mother and her white parents. A privileged upbringing. What does he know of the projects or discrimination? I don't think they had segregated drinking fountains at Harvard.
I think the winner fo the day was Rev. Joseph Lowery. He had the most memorable lines, and perhaps the greatest right to stand before that crowd and talk about change.
