The absurdity of American politics

I suppose to some extent we have all been unduly influenced by America. For me it started when the Marines gave us rides in open top Jeeps and packets of delicious tasting chewing gum during World War II. From then on we were bombarded with the Los Angeles culture in movies and then television and the obsession continues as exhibited by the Auckland glitterati who were fawning over Quentin Tarantino when he paid us a flying visit last week.

My own ongoing fascination is probably influenced by a lifelong subscription to Time magazine and as a result I have perhaps an unhealthy interest in American politics. Time arrives weekly and has become more liberal in its editorial stance over the years. To balance this I watch Fox News which is about as conservative as you can get. So I run with the hares and hunt with the hounds.

I have learnt that the race for the American presidential nomination is bizarre. At the time of writing the Democratic nominee may well be extreme left wing socialist Bernie Sanders who is polling ahead of Hilary Clinton in the crucial primary states. Sanders catch-cry “I don’t believe that the men and women who defended American democracy fought to create a situation where billionaires own the political process” has resonated and he has raised millions for his campaign through small donations.

Meanwhile Ms Clinton is apparently losing favour with young American women voters, many of whom weren’t even born at the time of her husband’s dalliances with Ms Lewinsky and other previous trysts. It seems they are not impressed that she stood by her man, Tammy Wynette style, instead of ditching him as modern womanhood decrees.

Bill’s appearances at her rallies can therefore be a two-edged sword.

On the other side of the great divide the likely Republican nominee is ultra-conservative Donald Trump who is despised by the mainstream media, but against all odds is becoming a champion of the hoi polloi.

Surprisingly Trump has supported both the Democratic and Republican parties in the past and therefore believes he will get bipartisan support, but he has upset so many minority sectors of the population it’s hard to imagine that he would be electable. Being unpopular however is apparently a blessing for contestants. His nearest rival, Senator Ted Cruz, is said to be “hated” by his fellow senators, but he wears this as a badge of honour to prove he is not one of the establishment politicos.

You can’t believe in a country of 300 million inhabitants these aspirants are the best options to take charge of the biggest economy on earth. The Republicans have put up a coterie of credible candidates including businesswoman Carly Fiorina, one-time CEO of Hewlett Packard, Ben Carson a personable African-American neurosurgeon and young Cuban-American Florida Senator Marco Rubio, all of whom seem to possess the hallmarks of presidential leadership. But against the populous Trump pronouncements they aren’t making any traction.

Also in the line-up of the potential Republican candidates is Jeb Bush. If he’s nominated and elected that means three Bush presidents.

The other two hardly set the world on fire - although on reflection George W. very nearly did.

“There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.” - Alexis de Tocqueville

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Swimming against the tide - again

I never did get David Bowie. I totally accept that this is my fault and not Mr Bowie’s. I didn’t even know how to pronounce his name correctly until he died. I thought the bow was as in lowering the head or upper body as a social gesture and found out instead that it was as in bow tie.

So his son’s name rhymes with Chloe.

Countless millions worldwide considered him one of the greatest artists of all time; his undoubted talent passed by me unnoticed.

I did try to get an understanding. I watched a 90 minute tribute to him on Prime Rocks last week. At the end of the programme I was more confused than ever.

I guess my problem is that I was brought up on a diet of the likes of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. These two didn’t have gimmicks; just nice voices. Notice I didn’t say they didn’t need gimmicks, that would be too unkind during this period of mourning.

My uncle had a purebred Pointer named “Bing.” He reckoned when he whined he sounded like the celebrated crooner. I’m not sure who would feel the most demeaned - the dog or Crosby.

But honestly Bowie’s voice did not have a particularly pleasant sound. Cast back to the likes of Eddie Fisher, Dean Martin, Al Martino, Perry Como, Bobby Darin, Matt Munro, Julio Iglesias, Guy Mitchell, Pat Boone, Vic Damone, Mel Torme, Jim Reeves, Harry Connick Jr; even Cliff Richard and Elvis Presley. Bowie wouldn’t feature on this list.

Mind you, neither would Ringo Star or even Paul McCartney.

Last weeks’ Time magazine, published just prior to his death, said Bowie’s voice had a “dry metallic timbre”. Hardly flattering, so was it the lyrics that made him such an international icon?

I Googled Bowie’s lyrics. In a song called Moonage Daydream, from the celebrated Ziggy Stardust album, I found this opening stanza:

I’m an alligator,
I’m a mama-papa comin’ for you
I’m the space invader,
I’ll be a rock’n’rolling bitch for you
Keep your mouth shut,
You’re squawking like a pink monkey bird
And I’m busting up my brains for the words.

He suffered a severe eye injury when a friend punched him at school. This left him with an unconventional facial feature and people seriously began to wonder if he was from another world. After reading these lyrics, apparently totally acceptable to the rank and file, I’m starting to think that I’m on the wrong planet. They are like the peace of God; they pass all understanding. 

Time also said: “Bowie wrote hard-driving, angst-ridden songs.” This week, in a more sombre mood, I’m sure they’ll be more charitable.

So if it’s not the voice and it’s not the words then it must be the melody, though I don’t recall anyone ever whistling a David Bowie tune.

David Bowie smoked, drank, and took drugs; a typical diet for so many celebrities for whom fame and fortune still doesn’t seem to quell relentless ambition.

A close relative tweeted: “I love that Bowies death was massive news that resonated globally. Means we have our priorities right.”

The whole world, except me.

“I’ve never responded well to entrenched negative thinking” - David Bowie

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Going against the trend

Warning: This column will offend believers in global warming and papal infallibility. Although I never joined the flat earth society and stopped believing in Father Christmas when closed-door log fires came into vogue I tend to be a sceptic on climate change. I recall how the boffins from the now extinct Wairarapa Catchment Board warned us back in 1986 that the sea at Riverdale was encroaching towards the land at the rate of a metre a year. This caused the District Council to declare a hazard zone on the beachfront houses which lowered their values considerably at the time.

Thirty years on and the last time I looked the waves were still breaking in the same place as they were in 1956 when I was a member of the surf lifesaving club at Riversdale. Australian climate change denier Trevor Sykes, who writes under the pseudonym Pierpont, reckons he’s not going to worry about sea level rises until Al Gore moves from his shoreline mansion and shifts to higher ground.

Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore, who resigned from the organisation because of its slavish belief in global warming, says the science is not settled and contrary to media headlines there have been no significant warming trends in the twenty-first century. “We don’t deny the climate is changing; it always has and it always will,” Moore says, but he reckons to use the word “climate change deniers” is mean-spirited “Because it intentionally links us to people who deny the holocaust.”

Perhaps the world’s number one climate change denier however is Professor Ian Plimer, an Australian geologist whose recent book “Heaven and Hell” advised Pope Francis on the subject. Plimer says that by equating moral virtue with green left political ideology the Pope is at risk of condemning the world’s poor to eternal poverty and should not have allowed himself to be advised by green activists who have shown they are “mean, treacherous, shameless liars, who are vulgar, cowardly, anti-environmental and ignorant.”

Climate change fears will certainly have had poverty outcomes for people on the west coast of the South Island and Huntly where our once profitable coal industry sites have been shut down.

Since the alarmist International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports began coming out they have prompted substantial scientific research into climate subjects. Some research published is at odds with the IPCC computer predictions. In 2007 for example alarmists were saying the Arctic would be ice-free by 2013. Instead the Arctic summer ice stopped retreating and has begun advancing again. The European Space Agency has reported that the Arctic sea ice increased by 33 percent in 2013 and 2014.

And so it begs the question: Was the UN Climate Change Convention held in Paris last month a great waste of time and money? Probably not for the thousands who went. The first-class air-fares, top quality accommodation, and copious amounts of food and drink would have been a compelling reason to attend.

And another gem from Pierpont: “When Al Gore was born, the world’s estimated population of polar bears was 7000. Now it’s 26,000.”



Says it all really.

“Global warming - at least the modern nightmare vision of it - is a myth. I am sure of it and so are a growing number of scientists. But what is really worrying is that the world’s politicians and policy makers are not” - David Bellamy

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Growing old disgracefully

We all know what it’s like. When you’re a kid the time span between one Christmas and the next seems interminable. As you age, the gap narrows until it gets to the stage where you’ve barely paid off your credit card from last Christmas and the next one is upon you.

And then there’s the sameness about it all. The same music; Jingle Bells, Snoopy’s Christmas, and John Lennon’s anti-war song And so this is Christmas.

Jingle Bells clearly represents the sound of the cash registers in the busy shops where crafty retailers cunningly add sixty percent to the recommended retail price, remove it and then advertise “sixty percent off.”

Everybody loves a bargain.

And always the controversy. This year it was Race Relations Commissioner Susan Devoy who caused a stir when she agreed with the Auckland Regional Migrant Services policy of avoiding the word Christmas by referring to “Happy Holidays” and “Season’s Greetings” so non-Christians wouldn’t feel excluded.

It was of course a storm in a teacup. Secular New Zealand has never really taken Christmas seriously. For instance they pronounce it Krist-miss instead of its real name Christ-mass. They parade our towns and cities with colourful floats which almost never include a Christ figure; they even call them Santa parades.

“Santa” is derived from Saint Nicholas, but “Old Nick” was a name in ancient English folklore for the devil. Fundamentalist Christians will even suggest that Santa is an anagram of Satan.

A bridge too far perhaps, but you’ll get my drift.

Then there are the carols. “And man will live for evermore” one of them expounds “because of Christmas day.” But don’t get too complacent. According to the church’s sole text book, the Bible, only believers will get to live for evermore.

The Parable of the Sower, documented in three of the four Gospels suggests that only twenty-five per cent of mankind or one in four will become true believers. The last census recorded that forty-nine per cent of New Zealanders said they were Christians which means we may have already exceeded our quota by twenty four per cent.

Perhaps the final straw are the Christmas crackers. This is where the Chinese get square on us for the insidious poll taxes of old and more recently Phil Twyford’s dubious claims about their alleged house-acquiring habits. Comprising tiny valueless plastic toys, cheap as chips paper hats and conundrums that were hilariously funny when we first heard them in the primers they will be producing a profit margin of around five hundred per cent.

Time then to go out and buy the family presents.

Shopping is so foreign to me that last week I went to a furniture store to look for a decaffeinated coffee table. And I’m convinced Sunday is the day God took off from creating the world to take Mrs God around Briscoe’s

I never knew what to give my father for Christmas so one year I gave him $100 and told him “Go and buy something that will make your life easier.”

So he went out and bought a present for my mother.

“I bought some batteries, but they weren’t included, so I had to buy them again.” - Steven Wright 

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Donald's trumpeting causes angst

Apparently there is a petition circulating around Britain barring Donald Trump from ever entering the country. So far this has attracted 430,966 signatures. Another petition doing the rounds is asking the government to close all the UK borders until ISIS is defeated and this one has garnered 443,769 signatures. The sheer irony that one appears to contradict the other will likely have been lost in the process.

Donald Trump’s declaration that if elected president he would ban Muslims from ever entering the country “until we can work out what the heck is going on.” has justifiably sparked widespread condemnation from free-world leaders, uncle Tom Cobbly and all, but amongst America’s conservatives, his popularity increases daily.

It’s not as though there’s a dearth of credible aspirants for the Republican Party’s nomination lining up against him. Texas Senator Ted Cruz, African-American neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Cuban-American senator Marco Rubio would all give the Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton a run for her money, but all three are lagging in the polls due to Mr Trump’s populist pronouncements.

To tap into the apprehensiveness of America’s and to some extent the world’s trepidation of the potential carnage caused by a terror group who appear to have no fear of death is clever politics, however distasteful.

America as we know it was birthed by its liberal immigration policy poetically expressed on the plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty that reads: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.”

Most Western nations, observing America’s success story, followed suit

Today we have to rely on governments using sophisticated surveillance systems to sort out the wheat from the chaff as far as immigrants are concerned as some seek to destroy our way of life.

Paris has clearly shown that despite having a secret service agency that would probably make our GCSB look amateurish, the French were woefully inept at containing terrorist attacks on at least two occasions.

This is a game on a number of levels, a numbers game, a time game and in the end a game that risks horrendous defeat by introducing more potential jihadists. That’s why Donald Trump has a point, however unrealistic, when he says we need to stop the flow until governments can devise a foolproof system of identifying the chaff.

Trump also gains some traction and support because the unpalatable truth is that most of us are more comfortable living amidst our own kind. Orthodox Muslims praying towards Mecca five times a day, their women wearing top-to-toe clothing and the patriarchal nature of their Sharia laws makes us feel uncomfortable.

And so although we enjoy the diversity that other population groups bring, we prefer to coalesce with our own kith and kin on a day-to-day basis.

Illegal aliens have always been a problem for New Zealand. In fact I would imagine that there will be an unmeasurable segment of Maoridom today who, when Captain Cook and his vulgar boatmen first set foot on Aotearoa, will have wished that their Rangatira’s had circulated a petition declaring that no white honkeys ever be allowed to come ashore again.

“I support making deportation for illegal immigration retroactive, and shipping Anglos back home” - Paul Rodriguez

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The perils of authorship

Last week the Nielsen Independent Booksellers ratings on the country’s Top 20 bestselling books had Bob Francis; A Story of My Town at number one. The book was up against Dan Carter: My Story which came in at number three and international superstar author Bill Bryson’s latest offering which was at four.

Local author, sports writer and district councillor Gary Caffell made a superb job of weaving the tale of Francis’s incredible life story.

The book chronicles the raft of issues facing Masterton’s longest-serving mayor which includes the Judd’s Road murders and the firebombing of a policeman’s house, but the tome has more depth and substance to it than these two widely-publicised issues.

Bob got involved in leading and supporting major strategies to combat significant social issues in the town which included gang problems, domestic violence, and poor parenting. He worked on initiating employment opportunities, had a real passion for the less fortunate and there are a great many facilities for Masterton’s citizens to enjoy thanks to the hard-working mayor’s drive and enthusiasm.

The books wider appeal will have been enhanced by the faithful recording of his stellar career as a rugby referee. He went on to become an international referee assessor and was a member of the referee selection panel at two World Cups. Devotees of our national sport in this rugby-mad nation will find the last thirty pages of the book absorbing.

However I would caution Mr Caffell and Mr Francis about going out and ordering new BMW’s at this critical stage, despite the books early success.

I have had some involvement in writing books. I’ve written two and they’re not necessarily goldmines; though to be fair mine were never in the same league as this one. Back in 2006, I wrote One Man’s Meat and sold out of all copies printed which was a first run of 600, but neither fame nor fortune followed. The all-up cost to produce the books was $10,000, but the return to the author after attendant costs had been paid was half that, leaving me $5000 out of pocket.

I was reminded of Mr Micawber's oft-quoted recipe for happiness as espoused in Charles Dickens’ book David Copperfield. “Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen shillings and sixpence, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and sixpence, result misery.”

I went to my bank manager and asked, “How do I stand for a loan?”

He said, “You don’t, you kneel.”

Surprisingly my first book, published in 1976, did produce a creditable profit. It was a book for the meat trade written in conjunction with my accountant Colin Croskery and was sold to pretty well all of the country’s butchers. It was a commercial success because we managed to convince suppliers to the industry to advertise in it.

Mr Micawber would have been proud of us.

Just after One Man’s Meat hit the bookstands I was stopped in the street by a fellow who told me: “From the moment I picked up your book until the moment I put it down, I could not stop laughing.”

“Someday,” he went on, “I hope to read it.”


I should have quit writing while I was ahead.

I asked my publisher what would happen if he sold all the copies of my book he had printed. He said, “I’ll just print another ten.” - Eric Sykes.

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Pillow talk leaves me bamboozled

The TV channel that tends to get most of my attention bombards me each night with advertisements urging me to take out an insurance policy to pay for my impending funeral and then entices me to buy a bamboo pillow that will allow me to sleep the sleep of the just and hopefully increase my life expectancy.

You probably thought, as I did, that a bamboo pillow is made from bamboo. Wrong! It’s the pillowslip that is made from bamboo, bamboo fibre that is. The pillow itself is made from foam.

Foam with a memory, apparently. Well anyway that’s what the salesman told me, lurking behind the counter in one of those pop-up shops that come and go in those wide aisles of a shopping mall in a nearby city.

The day I visited there was a mountebank claiming to cure most of your illnesses with a multi-coloured lamp beamed on the affected part, two stalls selling a huge variety of psychedelic covers for your iPhone, the inevitable chairs that will shake your booty if you dare to stick a two dollar coin in the slot and now two competing well-stocked mini-marts selling bamboo pillows.

I was intrigued. Bamboo fibre I was told is naturally anti-bacterial, hypoallergenic, breathable, cool, strong, flexible, soft and has a luxurious shiny appearance. It absorbs and evaporates sweat very quickly and is three or four times more absorbent than cotton.

About now the well-versed young salesman pauses to draw breath and then goes on to expound that environmentally-friendly bamboo yields ten times that of cotton, without using fertilisers or pesticides. Armed with this information I wondered out loud why there aren’t more Panda’s in the world, but my cynicism is unacknowledged and the young man is now joined by an attractive dark-skinned young saleslady coming to the rescue of her colleague who is blissfully unaware that he needs rescuing.

When I express surprise that the pillow itself is actually made of foam rather than bamboo she tells me that the memory foam’s most unique quality is its temperature sensitivity, which softens the foam when in contact with the body. Memory foam, she gushes, moulds to your curvatures, cradling areas that normally receive pressure and supporting areas that typically do not. Truly miraculous.

I convey my disillusionment however given that when Susan Paul drops the bowling ball on the pillow and doesn’t break the egg beneath the accompanying spiel clearly implies that it’s the bamboo that’s the hero, not the foam.

This narrative is lost on my two young salespersons who I suspect have never had to suffer monotonous TV ads. They probably download movies or watch Netflix; I envy their innocence.

I can get two pillows for $79 they tell me, but when I suggest that having pillowcases featuring bamboo slogans and illustrations will hardly enhance the appearance of our immaculate bedroom they offer as an extra a variety of pastel-coloured bamboo pillowcases, logo free. This bumps up the price tag considerably.

I’m then told that thousands of customers swear by their bamboo pillows.

I’ll bet they do, some louder than others.

“Business is the art of extracting money from another man’s pocket without resorting to violence.” - Max Amsterdam

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