Mists of Truth and Narrative and Power

The Standard points to our greatest dislike of the blogging scene, and the media in general. In changing his position just because it is National delivering the policy on the Electoral Finance Act, David Farrar of Kiwiblog is showing his adherence to battlelines, to a party over principles. To power.

This can be seen across the blogosphere now that National are in power, with hypocritical crowing from Right-wing bloggers - Cactus Kate, Roarprawn - knowing that they personally benefit from the big business mentality of the National-Act - screw democracy, screw any ambition other than money-making - and they screw up their own avowed principles (such as Roarprawn's "hate on political corruption"). This is sad. And you won't see it here, because no NZ party is really moving in a direction Fantail would like to see. The parties don't understand the question our country is facing - because we haven't asked it of them properly.

What is that question, you ask? It's a good question. It's simple, but obscure. I'll tell ya later. And you won't hear the media asking it, not on our behalf because they lack the self-awarness and clarity to see how they hinder democracy, instead of aiding it. They are arbiters and gatekeepers, like the three monkeys. Deaf. Dumb. Blind.

As with John Key's follow-up performance after Letterman. I can't find a mainstream report on it, but apparently he walked out on Iranian president Ahmedinajad's speech to the UN - following the coat-tails of the uS and UK, like a good pup.

This is a worrying sign. He personally could benefit greatly from listening to the leaders of countries 20 times our size, facing threats that make "Oh, KiwiRail is losing money" look absolutely infantile. His political pedigree isn't impressive, but the answer is not to play "follow the leader". Stay in your seat. Listen. Learn. That's what you're there for. Ask questions. Think for yourself - don't just follow the cool kids around.

I wonder what he thought of the Swiss leader's comments regarding the G20 elite, who met alongside the General Assembly in Pittsburgh. That is, the biggest national economies in the world, and those who are too strategically important to ignore and aren't upstarts that the US wants to bomb back into their place. We're never going to make either hit list, so we should listen to Switzerland's concern that the UN, much less the General Assembly (the most democratic body in the world) is being made ever more redundant by these swaggering elites.

It would be nice if we could stop the rot hang on to some principles - show some real ambition - rather than always spreading our legs for the money.

Link to UN General Debate

Not Happy, John: Pt. 2

In the little reading I've managed over a busy weekend, I note that the ineffable business reporter Fran O'Sullivan echoes our feelings entirely on the Letterman mistake.

Unfortuately, Mr Key then comes out the next day and says New Zealand should have a seat on the UN Security Council.

Really? Seriously? Is anyone there still taking him seriously?

He talks about New Zealand's anti-nuclear credentials, but that just seems to be another thing he is "trading on". Using our reputation to get the seat, but what then? Given the emphasis on nuclear proliferation at this Assembly (note, NOT disarmament, as was initially reported), it is a legitimate concern that a New Zealand Security Council vote would belong to the USA - a world power that is very focused on removing the Islamic Republic of Iran's legal right to nuclear power, by any means necessary.

("But, Fantail," I hear, "Iran's a bad guy?" That is a fair question. But to be addressed another time, perhaps.)

There is a precedent to this National Government trading like this - earlier this year we declined to continue our VERY proud record on the UN Human Rights Council in order to give USA a chance at gaining a nomination.

So, it's a two-edged sword. We're a small country. Our reputation, our principles are all we really have. If we did secure a Security Council seat, we would have a strong platform to act on democratic principles in defence of international law, to prevent another illegal war in the Middle East - it would be something to be proud of.

But we don't want the damn seat if it'll be used to terrorise another country in our name.

Not Happy, John

Prime Minister John Key debased himself and the country on the Late Show with David Letterman yesterday.

"Somebody" apparently, is calling this humiliation a "coup" which means that some of his Public Relations lackeys have written a press release and the media has swallowed it whole.

And I say this, of course, because 90% of the news we read/see/hear, is press releases. Which is 99.9% true, but on the whole... a topic for another time.

So back to John Key. Prime Minister. And now, trivial amusement.

The Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd goes on Rove McManus's show in his own country, and that is a huge gesture. It is heart-warming that he steps out of his comfort zone, remains, dignified, squirms when having to tackle the obligatory question of homosexuality (Rudd is quite a devout Christian)... but there's a latitude, because is the PM exposing himself to his own nation with a respectful host who is invested in the country under discussion - Australia.

Mr John Key, however, with David Letterman... There is no affection. There is no relationship or investment with his audience. It is 100% ass-lickery, playing the jester for the benefit of a off-humour dweeb and his ignorant audience who couldn't care less about New Zealand, but it makes them feel special and powerful to have some hick travel from across the world and perform in their off-Broadway court. It was practically medieval. If they'd been eating, the crowd would have thrown bones just to watch our Prime Minister fight the dogs for the right to eat them off the floor.

For tourism, they say. Huge, HUGE coup! Well, I hope so. There's not much worse for a prostitute than when the client won't pay up afterward. Cos that's what it was. Whoring. Selling his status as our leader, the pinnacle any NZer can hope to achieve, in the hope of a few bucks.

Or necrophilia, cos hoping for tourism from the US - that's a dead horse. At the rate their dollar's bombing, well have dollar parity by the end of the year, and the recession (or the next one that is a micro-blip away, if you want to be pedantic) will keep Americans at home, holidaying at home.

Ultimately, I don't blame John - he looked as nervous as hell. I think, somewhere inside, he knew it was the wrong thing, doing his folksy campaign-trail thing on the international stage. I hope he reflects on this and realises a country's culture and democratic history -its prestige - goes far deeper than some some marketing line or gag image.

I blame those soulless suit-advisors around him, and hope he fires every one of them.

The Cult: Verdict pending

Been a bit distracted trying to read as many of the addresses of the world leaders at the UN as I can. Might come up with a summary piece later.

In the meantime, I'll say I saw the new NZ drama "The Cult" on Thursday night. It has good bones. The story has been swiftly established, with a group of loved ones and family members assembling somewhere in Northland to try and rescue their sons/daughters/whatever from the "Two Gardens" cult commune. Either side has been given appearance of Goodies and Baddies,with plenty of room for intrigue and betrayal within each group. At this point, interaction between the groups looks like it will be difficult, or an evolving point of conflict - ie, there are fences and guns keeping the cultists in, the families out.

Also, lead writers are Peter Cox and David Brechin-Smith, who did wonderfully with the Insiders Guides to Happiness and Love.

That said, the first episode was a bit of a shambles. This is not uncommon with TV and literature. There is some throat clearing as bits of exposition are choked down and the story gets to where the writers want it. There was a real clash between the fast cuts and music (Very like insider's guide) of the outside world and the serenity of the bush and cult, and I don't think it worked. And some of the editing was... well, you really didn't know what was going on when there were guns and shots and bodies, but nothing serious seems to have happened except one guy who seemed to know too much disappeared.

Confused? My point exactly.

The next episode will clear up which way this is heading. By the third, I'll know whether I'm watching any more or not.

Lullaby of the Fuzzy-headed Book-Huggers

The Standard flags the keen appraisal of former Greens co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimmons about the real cost and beneficiaries behind National's Emission Trading Scheme. It tallies up to $2 Billion a year in corporate welfare.
The more corporations pollute in the pursuit of their profits, the more we the people pay.

And for those keeping score of who's who as beneficiaries of our taxes: that's,
community education, poor solo mums, retirement fund = bad!
well-to-do MPs, rich polluting companies = good!

Those who warn about climate change and environmental damage are often labelled warm-fuzzies, or tree-huggers, or whatever - but I'm not. I'm a hard-arsed realist. I'm realistic, that money will always be there to be made; people will live and die, societies crumble and reform. But our world, our wildlife - our inheritance and legacy - once lost, that can't be brought back by a fancy fiddling of numbers and a pass around of the hat. That's just reality.

And people like me have been around for ages. For forty years, we've been talking about the environment and limits to growth, ever since the Club of Rome. And every time, Money talks back. And it says. "There are no limits - so long as government doesn't place any limits. We can grow forever. We'll get cleaner, promise - new technology will lead the way!"

It is a sweet lullaby: our fresh-faced economists are taught it in chapter 1 so they can set their impressionable minds at ease and they can get on with the important business of being trained to succeed within the established political and economic order.

Every five, ten years, the same conversation; every time, the same song is sung. Money Talks, and Government fails us, because industry are given no incentive to do anything different. If they paid for their pollution, that would be a good economic incentive to actually start researching and implementing that fabled new technology.

So, ultimately, who are the fluff-headed book-huggers? And who are the realists?

You know, the winged fantails used to be EVERYWHERE when I was a kid. 20 years on.... not so much. I find that sad. Fantails, gone. National Parks, dug up. Water - well, it's already scarce in Australia. That matters to me - enough that I'd like to see some of the considerable wealth of our small country - dollars are literally power in this respect - invested in protecting these things; in ambitions other than making more money that the wider community never benefits from.

And I reckon, maybe there are more of realists like me than the Money in this country is counting on. I reckon that unless they get the facts on the ground right, National might leave a door open. It only takes a small swing... Their reign might be shorter than they think.

When Character Counted

I recently finished watching the entire series of Blakes 7 on DVD. I'm not going to link it, this is the internet, you can google it just as easily.

It is British, "science fiction", and ran for four years from the late 70s. The show's creator, Terry Nation (Of "Doctor Who's "Daleks" fame) described the show as "Dirty Dozen in Space". It suffers from the lack of budget and technology we expect these days, but for character and dialogue and story, it surpasses anything that has been seen in the genre since. And in saying this I respectfully include Joss Whedon's Firefly & Serenity, which are the best of the rest. Occasionally those shows still smelt of the corn-cheese factory, but were loveable nonetheless.

But too loveable. You could see from the writing of Firefly's pilot that Captain Malcolm Reynolds was supposed to be a tough as nails SOB who cared only for himself, his ship, and his crew - and often his dialogue reflected that. But his actions were of the eponymous hero - like Roj Blake from Blakes 7. They would only hurt the deserving, eve though their actions caused many undeserving might get caught in the crossfire.

Unlike Mal, though, Blake had a calculating and rational offsider Ker Avon, who would cut to the chase. If innocents died anyway, any bother or moral torment over how they died was pointless and costly - the thing that mattered was winning. Time after time Avon sacrificed innocents for his greater good - for which Blake always provided a hazy moral compass... right till the end.

Paul Darrow, who played Avon, gives an excellent interview on the final disk of Season 4, where the show was culled. He says of a Blakes 7 revival, "Serenity - it has already been done." But he is too modest. In a time where so much TV wastes production values on banal scripts filled with exposition and bland scenes written as radio with pictures, not even the limitations of 70s sci-fi can depose Blakes as a pinnacle in television drama.

Other great TV dramas:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Mad Men
The Sopranos
The Insiders Guide to Happiness (& Love) (NZ)
Secret Life of Us (AUS)
Outrageous Fortune (NZ)

Moving in...

Not so much a mission statement, as a starter post to see if I have the time and commitment to keep this up. Does blogging provide an outlet for thoughts and furies, or rile them up worse? We'll see. Hopefully it'll be at least a li'l entertaining in the meantime.

Capitulations and Commiserations

The All Blacks' 33-6 victory over the Wallabies was an interesting affair; but not as interesting as all the hot air that escaped afterwards.

Spiro Zavos notes on the Roar that the crowd leaving the stadium were surprisingly muted, and actually that's how I felt watching it. I saw a lot of toil and endeavour from the All Blacks - and an improvement, with the error count down, a good loose trio and, at last, CORY JANE on the field. But Nonu's try was a relief, and Rokocoko's just a little mouthwash after swallowing an awful home season where we'd have much rather seen this performance in the first game than the last.

It was only once I read my first NZ-based news item that I realised that I had apparently been watching a game of majesty and excellence from the All Blacks.

Indeed, it was a story repeated throughout the press here, and I was reminded yet again that many of these papers and writers RELY on our love of rugby to cash their paychecks. The after match reports are always so uncritical of obvious game-turning decision by referees these days, of the blindness to offside, forward passes, and the reporting of penalty counts are a thing of the past... It's not in the media's interest to get too down on their cash-cow.

And so, this win has been blown out of all proportions. You want to see a real NZ-AUS thrashing? Try 43-6 in the wet at Athletic Park in 1996. Saturday's All Blacks were strong, but the Wallabies limp - as they have always been when they are favoured in the professional era. Other than the "John Eales" era of influence, 1998-2002, the Wallabies struggle after posting a big win because it places expectations on them. They then kick and fight like underdogs, occasionally dragging the bigger dog down - South Africa this year. That was the damage they caused at the 2003 World Cup, and it will be their biggest threat at the next.

In the performances of Cory Jane and Adam Thomson, the All Black coaches have, I hope, learned a small lesson in picking the best players. But I doubt it, because Rokocoko was still there for no good reason, and their every comment and decision smacks of pride and "we know best". This earned them a serve this week in the media, which sold papers at Steve Hansen's expense, but now the press are leading the up-tick in our rugby zeitgeist.

There's money to be made from our rugby smiles. There should be some research into how many homes buy Sky just so they can watch our national game.

*

In other sport:
A tear for the Wellington Phoenix having to settle for a draw after a late goal by the North Queensland Fury in the A-League.

Sighs for the Silver Ferns, who again let the Australian netballers run out leads before hauling them back in - to lose by 1.

Shake of the head for the Wellington Lions, who lost to Waikato, and can barely score a try this year. It seems they were just way ahead of the pack in 08; all the other teams have caught up.

A yawn for the Black Cap Cricketers who are still overpaid, over-exposed and under-perform, despite a warm-up win against India.