Older Random Rants

Short Article on Political Tom-Foolery


Is It Ever Acceptable To Make a Spectacle of One’s Self In Public over Politics?
(This piece is a reaction to the unconscionable recent attack on Mr Peters by some unknown larrikin.)

This is an interesting question and obviously has many possible answers depending on, among other things, one 's political convictions, the depth of one passion about certain issues and, of course, the degree to which one may or may not be unhinged. People like the Right Dishounourable Winsome Peters do so regularly – misbehave in public that is - but carry it off with such aplomb, that the average punter, can often be oblivious to the substance of what he says, seduced, as it were, by the style.

I would be the first, however, to agree that there is a kind of substance to what Winsome is saying - I refer here of course to his many utterances on immigration/race issues - and this substance is something that a democracy that values human rights, particularly the rights of minorities, must pay some attention to.

A few choice examples:

They ( immigrants) can " enjoy another one of our great freedoms - the freedom to go back home" We can, I’m sure imagine how welcoming this would make a recent immigrant in the audience feel.
" We cannot take our tradition of tolerance for granted when we are importing fanatics for whom that tradition is alien". I'm sure the vast majority of our Muslim community would agree that we must safegauard a tradition,but how might one feel, knowing these comments are directed at your entire community in a way that brands you all as , in some way, linked to a “militant Islamic underbelly” THey may indeed ponder just what kind of tolerance it is that Mr Peters represents.
" I believe the numbers of Muslim immigrants make it almost impossible to avoid conflict" . I can only say that I’m glad they werent' saying this about those nterrible whisky-swilling Scots when my dear old Mum and Dad immigrated here .
" The inevitable consequence of the situation we're breeding with ethinic ghettos is that people won't be able to walk out of their own area for fear of violence" How’s this for a reasoned, measured and balanced analysis of the current situation?

I could go on ad nauseum and I mean this literally of course. The ultimate irony is that Peters has called on our long Western tradition of tolerance and respect for human rights, invoking Voltaire and even William Shakespeare would you believe? - did the bard not also say " Get thee gone thou racist bleaters - I have no time for such like Peters"

I believe Voltaire may have said something along the lines of - " I may not like what you say
( the subtext here is that he doesn't actually like nasty bigots), but I will defend to the death your right to say it" Apparently not all that physically robust, Peters might not actually want Voltaire in his corner, but there is little doubt the likes of someone like Peters appealing to the philosophy of this leading light of the Enlightenment, would have the poor little man spinning in his lovely French grave.

Unfortunately, Mr Peters is on safe ground in one respect; as a free, democratic society that respects the right of all its members to express their views, there is little chance of shutting the great man up. Only the exhaustion of his insatiable desire for personal publicity is likely to do that and it seems ill-advised to hold ones breath on that score.

Returning to the original question of whether it is acceptable for a grown man to behave improperly in public to protest the likes of Winsome and his odious views, how should one answer? If people are not enraged at the use of the race card to win a few grubby votes; at the denigration of an entire minority in our fair country; at the inflaming of unfounded fears and petty racial bigotry to serve some grimy political end; well perhaps they should be. We may allow Peters and his brigade to say what they think, but there is a greater majority ,thankfully, opposed to the politics of race. We must fervently hope that only a misguided few will ever be attracted to that grand tradition that includes Pauline Hanson, Enoch Powell adn Monsieur Le Pen, ( ironically from the country that gave us Voltaire himself) , to name a few of the more innocuous proponents of this brand of politiking . There is definitely an argument that the rest of us have a responsibility to stand up and say what they believe, perhaps even at the cost of coming across as some kind of deranged larrikin. I see that I haven’t adequately answered the question posed at the beginning. Perhaps its up to each individual and his or her conscience, or, perhaps God forbid, I’m learning from the great man himself how to never give a straight answer.

R.T.Fat



Spiced Coffee and Cake With Mr Zaoui




Recently, I was fortunate to spend a little time with Ahmed Zaoui. We spent a pleasant time, taking Mr Zaoui's Algerian spiced coffee and discussing the upcoming election ,and human rights, a subject close to Mr Zaoui's heart.

As you might imagine, I was very much on my guard, having been led to believe by our, surely ironically named, Intelligence Services, and the great majority of those noble parliamentary representatives of ours, that this kindly and avuncular individual was a threat to our good country's security. There were a few dodgy looking types around, I must confess; the deceptively gentle Catholic Father and Mr Zaoui's assistant, Sarah, seemed just too nice to be true. My suspicions were well and truly aroused; avowed supporters of a dangerous threat to our national security could surely not be so warm and welcoming, but, yes, there was a certain something in the determined manner in which they kept plying me with cake and coffee.

One minor matter, however, puzzled me. Where were all those intelligent Security Intelligence people who must be surely be keeping a close eye on the dangerous Mr Zaoui. Without giving away my suspicions, I stayed constantly alert, but was unable to detect any likely suspects. Yep, I had to hand it to them; they were good, these guys. And then, it finally dawned on me. Father Chris, who so consummately played the role of kindly scholarly priest, was, in fact, a double-agent. Brilliant. Thank God, I thought, our country's fate is in the steady hand of these masters of deception.

One further minor point still troubled me, however. I kept wondering; if Mr Zaoui is not a genuine refugee claiming sanctuary from a vicious and murderous regime, just what the heck is he playing at? Why would he otherwise give up years of his life, two of them in one of our prisons, much of that time in solitary confinement, the preserve of our worst criminals and denying himself his family and the chance of seeing his youngest son Yusef growing up. If Mr Zaoui is something other than, the quiet scholarly man of peace, then what could that possibly be?

These doubts are obviously not shared by the powers that be; in fairness to them, they're rather preoccupied slagging each other off and bribing us with petty and superficial election promises. Meanwhile Mr Zaoui continues to live life in limbo. As I left the priory where Mr Zaoui stays, I wondered whether I had met a man who is not actually a security threat, but a victim , firstly of his own country's terrible history, and then, more seriously from our point of view, the cold and inhuman treatment of a country supposedly renowned for its enlightened stance on human rights issues,




Bring Back Saddam - (article on Scoop)

This title is meant only as an attention-grabber; no one in his right mind would seriously want the infamous mass-murderer back. But it serves to make the point that , after three years and in spite of all the lofty sounding platitudes about freedom and democracy, the invasion of Iraq has brought only death and destruction.Yes, there have been elections, but no viable government has been formed after more than three months.

The infrastructure of Iraq has taken a terrible pummeling with lower than pre-war oil output, long queues for petrol in one of the most oil-rich countries in the world, less hours of electricity and severe shortages of essential medical supplies.

Sectarian violence is at such levels that there is a debate now as to whether or not this constitutes civil war; there are more than 30 killings per day and Shiites and Sunnis are being forced to flee their respective areas, with daily bombings, kidnappings, abductions and murders by militias, some of which are linked to the government.


. The seasoned BBC Journalist John Simpson recently wrote that he has made eight visits to Baghdad in the last year and each time he found the situation worse. Do we trust his judgment or that of the US military spokesmen who assure us all is going swimmingly in Iraq.?

These indicators are, ofcourse, disappointing, but are as nothing compared to the loss of tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi lives, and the climate of terror in which ordinary Iraqis now live .

The actual numbers killed is an interesting issue in itself. Estimates vary from less than 20,000(Iraqi Body Count) to over 100,000 in Les Roberts study published in The Lancet. The Bush government naturally likes to quote the former figure.

Its easy to forget that the stated reason for the invasion was the fear of Saddams weapons of mass destruction. We now know from the leaked memos from Downing Street and Washington,( the latter one was recently publicised by that bastion of radicalism , the New York Times), that Bush and Blair had decided on invasion well before the diplomatic processes were exhausted. The head of MI5, Sir Richard Dearlove stated that, in his opinion, “the intelligence and facts were being fixed around policy” by the Bush regime. A later leaked memo, ( mentioned in Phillipe Sands recent book),merely confirms what we already knew: Bush and Blair deliberately lied about their intentions and bypassed the Security Council. ( This information is available on the not very radical BBC site – search under memo and Iraq)

. If the information revealed in the leaked memos demonstrate that Bush and Blair lied in order to prosecute an illegal invasion in which many thousands of innocent people have been killed, western democracy has come to something of a pretty pass when it can countenance such action by the countries that gave us constitutional government and the democratic republicanism.

Ofcourse, when the weapons of mass destruction were not found, as had been predicted, the script did a U-turn and changed to a more noble cause; that of bringing freedom and democracy to the poor suffering Iraqis. When we look at the many vicious regimes that the US is happy to support , only the extremely naïve could possibly accept this thesis. The US has a proven record of undermining democracy when it doesn’t’ suit their grand plan and of supporting vicious dictators when it does. William Blum in his recent book gives a quick overview of the lengths the US will go to in order to protect its interests. Note that the US’s chief backers in the region, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are very far from being models of democracy.

The Neo Cons who now dominate the Bush government have always openly stated that they aspire to project US power throughout the world, countenancing no other rival and with a willingness to use force in the interests of the expansion of US Power.(look for Project for the New American Century in Google) I’m probably understating their intentions, but there is no doubt that US foreign policy has moved dramatically in this direction and, tragically, the most obvious victim of this new philosophy of American dominance is Iraq.

As was stated at the Nuremberg trials, initiating a war of aggression is “the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains writing itself the accumulated evil of the whole” I believe this was an illegal war of aggression prosecuted in the pursuit of the interests of the US and its allies; no doubt the international lawyer might argue this point, but what is unarguable is the terrible cost inflicted on the Iraqi people.

Newsletter of the Duffiton Labour Ladies’ League

Aunt Gertie’s Post-Election Analysis
Open Letter to Helen Clark from Aunty Gertie
( President Duffiton Labour Ladies League)


Dear Helen

Irene and I were just saying, my dear, that you’re looking a little peeky these days. I do hope you’ve been taking care of yourself in this time of elections and that you or David have been making my delicious soup recipe e that I sent you. You look so much better in all those billboards dear which just goes to show that this election must have taken its toll.

No wonder. I’m afraid that horrible Mr Peters won over a few of our ladies. I think its really the way he always looks so neat and tidy - dapper is the word we used to use dear, and I must admit, he does have a lovely smile and I do so admire the way he can be smiley and friendly, even when he’s being nasty to those immigrant people.. I’m never sure if that’ a wig he’s wearing - are you Helen?


As for that Mr Brash – I don’t like the way he was nasty to you dear. I can’t understand why so many people voted for a man who looks just like a banker – it just shows what some people will do for a few crumbs - and he did say he’d stop the Maori getting any more of that special treatment - I must say, you’d think they would have had enough after 150 years of years of it. My brother Bob – you know him dear - the one from Remuera, who has that lovely BMW - always says its about time we were all treated equally - Anyway, Helen, I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him – not Bob dear – he may vote for ACT but he is my brother after all - that brash man – which wouldn’t be very far since my arthiritis has got worse this winter. I’m sorry Helen – I’m wandering again – I’m sure you don’t want to know about my aches and pains.

I’m sorry to say that Elsie Gormliss voted for him - because, even though there aren’t any Maoris in Duffiton, on principle ,she refuses to let any Maori stop her from walking Brutus on the beach. I know that nice American who bought up the local headlands has put up a sign saying “Tresspassers will be Shot”, but , the thing is, he’s such a nice gentleman and, would you believe it, he dontated $200 to our annual Gala Day Fund Raiser.

I’m sorry to bring all this bad news dear, but we lost another vote.to those silly Greens – they always look so scruffy – not like that horrible Mr Peters. Maisie Owdavit has switched to them because she says that Marijuana helps her arthritis.I don’t know what the wolrd’s coming to Helen.We’re thinking of not inviting her to our sherry evenings after this. Uncle Bob sends his regards – he’s just nodding of in front of the telly after his fourth or fifth wee dram

We all wish you well in the next few weeks Helen. If you must have the Greens in government dear, our ladies here would like you to insist that they dress properly and that that young chappie with the funny hair gets a hair-cut. Perhaps you could make Winstone Peters your minister of immigration – at least he knows how to deal with all those Albanians who keep coming here – I’ve got nothing against them, but how many Albanians should any country have to have?
The ladies of the local Labour Ladies League are always right behind you dear – apart form Maisie Oudavit and Elsie Gormliss that is.Take care and don’t forget to try my lovely soup.

Love
Auntie Gertie




Installment of the Leaked George and Tony Tapes



Hi Tony - how's it going in your neck of the woods?

Just fine George, Things are humming along. No doubt you're aware I was on TV with Bob Geldof. The public relations people were ecstatic. They couldn't get me Nelson Mandela even though they told him it was for a good cause

I thought you'd already got reelected Tony..

No - I meant for the Live 8 thingamy. Your advisers would have mentioned it George. Its coinciding with the G8 conference

Oh yeah - that’s right Tony - I've got a real doozie of a speech for that one

Good George - its important to be seen to be making the right noises. Just what will you be saying George? Will you be mentioning debt relief?

Who?

No George - its not a who - it’s a what - you know- letting the poor countries off their debt.

Look Tony - like my Daddy says - " There 'll always be poor people"

Quite right George, but, as I say, its important to be making the right noises so to speak.

What noises Tony?

Don't worry now George - just read your speech a few times and you'll get the picture.

Sure buddy. You know I always admire the way you understand all these things and how the hell do you manage to look like a Goddamed choir boy all the time?

Well - I think it started when I was the class monitor in my first year at Fetty's and I've worked on it ever since George.

Can't you give me any tips Tony?

Well George the secret is to look concerned, sincere and thoughtful all at the same time - you can practise in front of the mirror.

I try to look thoughtful Tony but Barbara? Says that it doesn't look right on me on account of my sloping forehead and deepset eyes.

Yes I think she may be right George. What does Donald say.

He says just to concentrate on looking like some friendly guy you meet at the bar and that I shoulnd't try to look intelligent because that makes me look confused - oh yeah, and leave the talking to him and Condoleeza. Oh yeah - And I can mention feedom and democracy as often as I like.

Quite right George - you'll be just fine with that - I say - what was that noise?

Yikes I was just practicing my golf swing, one-handed, while we were shootin' the breeze and I hit that priceless Ming vase Herbert Hoover was given back in the 60's.

OH dear what a shame George

Excuse me Tony old buddy. I'll have to ring you back. There's something going on here. Security guys everywhere, If this is a false alarm, I'm goin' to be real pissed partner.
See ya Tony.

Ah - yes bye for now Geroge