Don McGlashen is rightfully pissed off and so he should be. TVNZ chose his song “Anchor Me” to back a “celebration” of the moment of ascension of the National Party to power. McGlashen, a leftie and proud of it is horrified that his song was used in this way. Symbolically, it brands the song as a right wing anthem which is surely is not. This branding - if it is ever used consciously by the National Party should afford a significant payment to Mr McGlashen as it is more than just playing rights at stake here. It is the politically assimilation of a very popular song.
“One of Britain’s most authoritative judicial figures last night delivered a blistering attack on the invasion of Iraq, describing it as a serious violation of international law, and accusing Britain and the US of acting like a “world vigilante”.
“Lord Bingham, in his first major speech since retiring as the senior law lord, rejected the then attorney general’s defence of the 2003 invasion as fundamentally flawed.
“Contradicting head-on Lord Goldsmith’s advice that the invasion was lawful, Bingham stated: “It was not plain that Iraq had failed to comply in a manner justifying resort to force and there were no strong factual grounds or hard evidence to show that it had.” Adding his weight to the body of international legal opinion opposed to the invasion, Bingham said that to argue, as the British government had done, that Britain and the US could unilaterally decide that Iraq had broken UN resolutions “passes belief”.
Brown cloud pollution - smog that drifts away overnight from the crowded car cities of Asia - goes somewhere and accumulates. Theoretically, this perpetual haze filters enough sunlight that a reverse Greenhouse effect cools the air - and poisons everything.
There is a danger that this offset will justify both evils. Two wrongs do not correct each other and if the justification is that it is quite okay to continue murdering our grandchildren - then it would make more sense.
Twenty years ago, there seemed to be some political alignments on both the left and right, being reflected on both sides of the world. These days - the world is more torn across the central divide. As the US ushered in a new era of left wing management and Barack Obama - the first actual human to be president since Abe Lincon perhaps - in that Obama did not come from any sort of privilege - New Zealand has voted in a very right wing government - National (i.e. conservative) is the party that now has the power, ACT is the king maker (although its credentials hang on the reputation of its leader - Rodney Hide - the yellow jacketed WASP - who gained popularity by slimming down, getting his teeth fixed and famously lumbering about on “Dancing with the Stars” - all good fodder for the mindless supermarket aisle press - who’s triumphant return carried the very right wing ACT back to power with Roger Douglas (the Freedman monitarist who out-Thatchered Thatcher) advising on Finance, no doubt - and of course the leadership of National - John Key - a stock broker who worked for Merril Lynch in New York trading currencies - these pointy head “economists” are going to dig NZ out of the looming recession by reducing taxes and slicing Government spending.
The New Deal the US has reinvoked with its democratic decision is historically the correct medicine. Key has spoken about investment in infrastructure - which is “new dealish” and will be very welcome in the difficult months ahead - as unemployment starts to rear an ugly face.
It is the end of NZ’s most successful Prime Minister - Helen Clark is destined for political sainthood in the form of a UN posting? Very likely.
DisturbingTrends welcomes the new National led government, with a hope that this political animal now out in the open will no longer camoflauge its intentions - political honesty is the best way to be reelected.
Prediction: The NZ dollar will again be overvalued and interest rates will rise? Or will it drop as foreign exchange dealers do not agree with the electorate. Bit early to see - but I wonder now if the FTA with the USA is going to be a casualty?
Labour’s television advertising has missed the point. Take for example the television advert with the two Johns, it shows two pictures of John Key and then flashes a labour logo at the end. This is promoting National more than Labour even though Labour is using gutter politics trying to take the monkey out of John Key I believe its not working for them. What I mean is most people that watch television get more visually than an audio stream what they see sits more in the mind more so than what they hear. John Key must be laughing thinking he is getting free advertising at the expense of the Labour party. I think this advert has missed its mark and gives National free exposure at Labours expense poor marks for Labour.
The overwhelming election of Barack Obama to the Office the The President of the United States of America has electrified the world. Congratulations are due to the campaign that was itself an extraordinary one. And with extraordinary dignity John McCain’s delivered his speech to his faithful to signal the end of the campaign and the start of cooperation. During the campaign the gloves were off, anything went - but now America can be once again be United - and enact new policy that has some chance of correcting the imbalances the Bush adminstration created that have so long divided and disappointed Americans. The Bush years will be remembered as tragically aggressive and government perhaps by poor instincts - that decided it was best to “go it alone” (the Iraq war) after destroying it’s opposition (the impeachment of Clinton) and not acting to protect the security of its people (9/11 and the war in Afghanistan).
We do hope against hope that DisturbingTrends.org can relax - the Bush years were a time that required constant logical criticism. We hope that the future of the great nation, the USA is one that benefits all humanity and that the currents of change result in the following:
a) the end of Al Qaeda as a force for mindless violence destroying the lives of many young men and women in a war that really has no point.
b) the end of racism, everywhere
c) the begining of a new deal in economics where value is represented in reality with some speculation, instead of being driven by speculation.
d) enabling people to end poverty
e) an end to the pollution of the Earth as an accepted “normal reality”
f) nations who realize their own well being is partly dependent on the well being of other nations
Of course this is all very optimistic. Having a USA government that works for its people instead of commiting economic war against them - well it may transform the richest country in the world. And it may reach out to other communities as it always has. But it is the end of religious extremism between Pakistan and India, the end of expansionalism and threat from competing philosophies, the end of criminality trumping the authority of government - the end of war - these goals are still way ahead of us. As the human race turns a page in this thing we call history, it is up to each one of us to write on that page the future.
At the start of the run up to the campaign, we predicted that Joe Biden would win. Watching him on the victory stage with President Obama - was both inspiration and relief.
A prediction about the hand over - GW Bush has not finished creating havoc. His popularity will continue to dwindle, but he will make another fantastic mistake, I think it will be another attempted “bail out” manouvere of about 1 - 2 trillion dollars, but it will simply fail.
In order to fulfil campaign claims to continuing war in the Middle East, John McCain would have to install a draft policy. Millions of US children are therefore in the firing line as drafted military fodder. What a waste that would be. See more here
Get out and vote, overwhelm those damn voting machines.
Why is it that the closer we get to the election the cheaper petrol becomes, seems as though the Government is trying to soften thier approach to Petrol. I predict once the election has passed we will see an increase in Petrol once again whomever gets into government. The last 2 years the price of petrol has increased even though the price per barrel has decreased seems suspicous that as we get closer to the election the cheaper it becomes