Constituional safety in power denied

Sir Anand Satyanand was farewelled with a bang yesterday but the most publicity he got during his tenure as Governor General was that generated by Paul Henry’s faux pas.

Apart from that Sir Anand quietly got on doing what Governors General do – fulfilling the ceremonial role required of the Queen’s representative and attending to a few other constitutional matters the law entrusts the office holder with.

I am a republican in my head but a monarchist in my heart. One of the reasons I like our current constitutional arrangements is the lack of politics and publicity which surround the Governor General.

I also like the security that comes with a role which gives little real power  to the office holder but by its existence denies power to usurpers.

No fires without smokes

Opposition MPs and unions predicted dire consequences when the ban on smoking in prisons was instituted.

What’s actually happened?  Corrections Minister Judith Collins reported there’s been almost no fires since the smokes were banned:

The ban has been in place since 1 July. It followed 12 months of careful planning and preparation by Corrections staff, supported by the Ministry of Health and Quitline.

“I would like to congratulate the Corrections Department for the successful implementation of this policy,” Ms Collins said.

“There has been a noticeable improvement in air quality within our prisons since the ban came into effect.

“Since 1 July there has also been a significant reduction in the number of fire and arson-related incidents. There were only four such incidents in July and one so far in August compared to 18 incidents in the month prior to the ban.

“The result is that our prisons are much safer and healthier places for Corrections staff.”

Labour copped a lot of flack for banning smoking in bars because of the way they did it. Instead of promoting it as an OSH issue for staff – with which it would have been very difficult to argue – they took the nanny-state we-know-what’s-good-for-you approach.

By contrast, the smoking ban in prisons was instituted as a workplace health and safety measure, a by-product of that will be better health for prisoners.

August 18 in history

On August 18:

293 BC  The oldest known Roman temple to Venus was founded, starting the institution of Vinalia Rustica. 

1572 Marriage in Paris of the future Huguenot King Henry IV of Navarre to Marguerite de Valois, in a supposed attempt to reconcile Protestants and Catholics. 

1587 Virginia Dare, granddaughter of governor John White of the Colony of Roanoke, became the first English child born in the Americas. 

1634  Urbain Grandier, accused and convicted of sorcery, was burned alive in Loudun France. 

1848  Camila O’Gorman and Ladislao Gutierrez were executed on the orders of Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas. 

1864 American Civil War: Battle of Globe Tavern – Union forces tried to cut a vital Confederate supply-line into Petersburg, Virginia, by attacking the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad.

1868 – French astronomer Pierre Jules César Janssen discovered helium.

1870  Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Gravelotte .

 

1877  Asaph Hall discovered Martian moon Phobos.

 

1885 Nettie Palmer, Australian poet and essayist, was born  (d. 1964).

1891 Major hurricane struck Martinique, leaving 700 dead. 

1903 German engineer Karl Jatho allegedly flew his self-made, motored gliding aeroplane four months before the first flight of the Wright Brothers.

1904 – Max Factor, Polish-born cosmetics entrepreneur, was born  (d. 1996).

1909 Mayor of Tokyo Yukio Ozaki presented Washington, D.C. with 2,000 cherry trees. 

1917  A Great Fire in Thessaloniki, Greece destroyed 32% of the city leaving 70,000 individuals homeless.

1920 Shelley Winters, American actress, was born  (d. 2006).

1920 The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, guaranteeing women’s suffrage. 

1935 Sir Howard Morrison, New Zealand entertainer, was born (d 2009).

1935 Robert Redford, American actor, was born.

 

1938  The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting New York State, United States with Ontario, Canada over the St. Lawrence River, was dedicated by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

 

1941 Adolf Hitler ordered a temporary halt to Nazi Germany’s systematic euthanasia of the mentally ill and the handicapped due to protests.

1950  Julien Lahaut, the chairman of the Communist Party of Belgium was assassinated by far-right elements.

1952 Patrick Swayze, American actor, was born  (d. 2009).

 

1958  Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial novel Lolita was published in the United States.

1963 American civil rights movement: James Meredith became the first black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi.

1965 Vietnam War: Operation Starlite began – United States Marines destroyed a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in the first major American ground battle of the war.

1966 Vietnam War: the Battle of Long Tan - a patrol of 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment encountered the Viet Cong. 

1969  Jimi Hendrix played the unofficial last day of the Woodstock festival. 

1971 Prime Minister Keith Holyoake announced to Parliament the decision to withdraw New Zealand’s combat force from Vietnam before the end of the year.

1976 In the Korean Demilitarized Zone at Panmunjeom, the Axe Murder Incident resulted in the death of two US soldiers.

1977  Steve Biko was arrested at a police roadblock under the Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967 in King William’s Town, South Africa. He later died of the injuries sustained during this arrest.

1982  Japanese election law was amended to allow for proportional representation.

1983  Hurricane Alicia hit the Texas coast, killing 22 people and causing over USD $1 billion in damage (1983 dollars). 

1989  Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán was assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia.

2000 A Federal jury finds the US EPA  guilty of discrimination against Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, later inspiring passage of the No FEAR Act.

2005 Massive power blackout in  Java, affecting almost 100 million people.

2008 President Of Pakistan Pervez Musharaf resigned due to pressure from opposition.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia

Word of the day

Glossalgos – talking until one’s tongue hurts.

Favourite feathered friend

Forest and Bird is doing its annual poll to find the bird of the year.

Candidates for the title of our favourite feathered friend include the Barn Owl, which is New Zealand’s newest native bird, and more well known candidates like the piwakwaka (fantail)  and korimako (bellbird).

The karearea’s (NZ falcon) chances ought to be boosted by featuring in an interview with its campaign manager but so far the Pukeko is a clear leader with 5228  votes.

Nature always has last word

Around the World, the blog of an Australian family on a one year round the world tour is a must read for anyone keen on vicarious travel.

They’ve reached Iceland and I was amused to read  about their walk through geothermal springs in a town centre:

 The town’s greenhouses, heating, three swimming pools and much more are heated by the springs. Walking about through clouds of sulphurous steam and seeing some amazing growths in the streams was great. We were heartily amused to read of one of the holes we saw having been used as a dump. Then an earthquake caused a massive geyser-like eruption which deposited the rubbish over the entire town. There was a nostalgic display of broken pottery and toy parts collected from the distributed refuse.

Yet another reminder that we shouldn’t mess with nature – she always has the last word.

Mother’s death is personal matter

Last week I blogged on a newspaper report that said Helen Clark was visiting New Zealand for personal reasons and didn’t want to comment.

I found that strange when she was coming to Oamaru for a public meeting to support the charity Hands and Hearts for Haiti.

However, the news that her mother, Margaret McMurray, has died  helps explain her reticence.

If  she was visiting her terminally ill mother she wouldn’t have been wanting to talk to media and a no comment, this is a personal visit would have been the best way to end the conversation.

In light of that I am very sorry I wrote the post.

Although she is no longer Prime Minister she still has a high profile public role but this is a personal matter.

The death of a loved parent is one of life’s toughest milestones and one which even public figures ought to be left to deal with in private.

My sympathy goes to Ms Clark and  her family.

Farmers not a significant minority

A column in Federated farmers’ Farm review (not online) asks if former Feds’ president Don Nicloson will get a high place on Act’s list:

Act would be dumb to pass up the opportunity because who’d get the farmer vote in a choice between ‘Cactus Kate’ or Don Nicolson?

I’m not sure of the answer to that question but it doesn’t really matter because a party which thinks appealing to farmers will give it a significant boost can’t count.

Farmers are very much a minority, sadly, not a very significant one in terms of numbers of votes and within that small group of voters are many different views.

Don Nicolson might get a few votes from the rural sector but a younger, fiesty candidate who also happens to be female could well attract a lot more votes in total.

If I was ranking the Act list I’d also consider commitment and loyalty.

When Nicolson first mentioned he was thinking of getting political he didn’t seem sure which party he might favour with his candidacy:

He’s slightly cagey about the next step, saying people keep suggesting he moves into politics, but he’s waiting for an invitation first.

“I am hoping somewhere it’s either politics or business that I get into. I’m quite happy to get into politics but no-one is really asking. I’m being told I should be in politics by many people and under MMP the question is can I cut it and tolerate that?

“I’m prepared to give it a go – but I’ve got to be asked,” he says.

The link to the quote no longer works, but I blogged on it here, saying that politics is no place for shrinking violets.

Someone who is quite sure of which party they want to stand for and who has demonstrated loyalty and commitment is more deserving of a list place than someone who appeared equivocal about joining. 

I’d also want someone who would attract far more votes than farmers would provide.

Milk price drop just .9%

The result of this morning’s GlobablDairyTrade auction will be greeted with relief.

With the turmoil on world markets in the last week a large drop in prices was expected but the trade weighted index was down only .9%.

It’s the fifth auction in a row to record a fall in prices, but it’s a small drop.

The trend of the TWI  is down but the price is still above the long term average.

The price paid for anhydrous milk fat was down .3%; butter milk powder was up 3%; cheddar was up 1.6%; milk protein concentrate was up 1.6%; rennet casein was down .3%; skim milk powder was down .8% and whole milk powder was down 2.2%

Real jobs come from private sector

The Herald  is generally approving of John Key’s announcements on improvements to youth benefits:

There is nothing objectionable in the Government’s proposed new way of handling young beneficiaries and school dropouts. A commendable carrot-and-stick approach is identifiable in the plan to support every at-risk high school dropout into training and restrict the spending habits of teenage beneficiaries.

 However, it also criticises the announcement for not including anything that will create jobs:

By the time the Government, if re-elected, introduces legislation to implement this proposal early next year, it should also have devised a strategy for real job creation.

But as Dene Mackenzie says:

Make-work schemes are not the answer. Having a sound platform for companies to grow and take on extra staff is the way to create jobs.

It’s not the government’s job to create jobs, it’s the private sector’s.

The government’s role is in ensuring the economic and legislative environment is conducive to them doing that.

Policies like National’s determination to reduce debt which will take the pressure of interest rates; the 90-day trial period for new employees which reduces the risk for employers and more flexible employment laws are the best strategy for real job creation.

August 17 in history

986  A Byzantine army was destryed in the Battle of Gates of Trajan by the Bulgarians under the Comitopuli Samuel and Aron.

 

1786 – Davy Crockett, American frontiersman and soldier, was born (d. 1836).

 

1807  Robert Fulton‘s first American steamboat left New York City for Albany, New York on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.

1839 The NZ Company’s sailing ship Tory dropped anchor in Queen Charlotte Sound to pick up fresh water, food and wood before proceeding to Port Nicholson (Wellington Harbour).

1862  Indian Wars: The Lakota (Sioux) Dakota War of 1862 began as Lakota warriors attacked white settlements along the Minnesota River.

1864  American Civil War: Battle of Gainesville – Confederate forces defeated Union troops.

1883  The first public performance of the Dominican Republic’s national anthem, Himno Nacional.

1893  Mae West, American actress, was born (d. 1980).

1904 Mary Cain, American newspaper editor and politician, was born  (d. 1984).

1907  Pike Place Market, the longest continuously-running public farmers market in the US, opened in Seattle.

1908  Fantasmagorie, the first animated cartoon, realized by Émile Cohl, was shown in Paris.

1914  Battle of Stalluponen – The German army of General Hermann von François defeated the Russian force commanded by Pavel Rennenkampf near modern-day Nesterov, Russia. 

1915  Jewish American Leo Frank was lynched for the alleged murder of a 13-year-old girl in Marietta, Georgia. 

1918  Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei Uritsky was assassinated.

1920  Maureen O’Hara, Irish actress, was born.

 

1943 Robert De Niro, American actor, was born.

 

1943  The U.S. Eighth Air Force suffered the loss of 60 bombers on the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission.

1943 : The U.S. Seventh Army under General George S. Patton arrived in Messina, Italy, followed several hours later by the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery, completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.

1943 First Québec Conference of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and William Lyon Mackenzie King began. 

1944 Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corporation, billionaire, was born.

 

1945  Indonesian Declaration of Independence. 

1946 Martha Coolidge, American film director, was born.

1947 The Radcliffe Line, the border between Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan was revealed. 

1953   First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous in Southern California.

1959  Quake Lake was formed by the magnitude 7.5 1959 Yellowstone earthquake near Hebgen Lake in Montana.

 

1959  Kind of Blue by Miles Davis the much acclaimed and highly influential best selling jazz recording of all time, was released.

1960  Gabon gained independence from France.

1960 Sean Penn, American actor and director, was born.

 

1962  Gilby Clarke, American musician (Guns N’ Roses), was born.

 

1962  East German border guards killed 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he attempted to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin becoming one of the first victims of the wall. 

1969  Category 5 Hurricane Camille hit the Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing $1.5 billion in damage.

 

1970  Venera 7 launched.

1978  Double Eagle II became first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it landed in Miserey near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine. 

1979 Two Soviet Aeroflot jetliners collide in mid-air over Ukraine, killing 156

1980  Azaria Chamberlain disappearsed, probably taken by a dingo.

 

1982  The first Compact Discs (CDs) were released to the public in Germany.

1988  Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.

1998  Monica Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admitted in taped testimony that he had an “improper physical relationship” with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On the same day he admitted before the nation that he “misled people” about his relationship.

1999 A 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck İzmit, Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000.

2004  The National Assembly of Serbia unanimously adopted new state symbols: Boze Pravde becomes the new anthem and the coat of arms was adopted for the whole country.

2005 The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of the Israel unilateral disengagement plan, starts. 

2005  Over 500 bombs were set off by terrorists at 300 locations in 63 out of the 64 districts of Bangladesh.

2008  By winning the Men’s 4x100m medley relay, Michael Phelps became the first Olympian to win eight gold medals in the same Olympics. 

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia

Word of the day

Polyphloisboian -  making a loud racket or terrible noise.

Retro mail with modern twist

Today’s chat with Jim Mora on Critical Mass began with a look at a modern twist on old methods of mail with a modern twist.

Snail mail my email is an interactive art project which:

 . . . seeks to both share the warm-fuzzy feeling of receiving a personalized letter as well as inspire people to send their own snail mail. Anyone with internet access can partake by simply sending an email, after which the very same message will be handwritten and physically mailed to the chosen recipient anywhere in the world, completely free of charge.

Hat Tip for that to Bel at Craft is the New Black

Telegram Stop - (which I blogged on a couple of weeks ago) is a 21st century attempt to bring back the romance and excitement of telegrams.

Apropos of that Jim had found ten famous telegrams.

Moving from written communication to oral we finished with why it’s smart to be bilingual.

Claytons campaigning for electorate vote

Remember the sanctimonious comments about National and Act doing post-election deals over some electorates?

The Greens aren’t going that far in Waitaki but their candidate, Sue Coutts,  has made it clear she’s running a Clayton’s campaign for the electorate vote:

The focus for all Greens candidates was getting support for the party vote, Mrs Coutts said. “Getting the party vote is the way the party is going to get ahead.” Winning the electorate was not the priority “this time around”.

Getting the party vote is the way every party will get ahead becuase, as we were reminded yet again at National’s conference last weekend, it’s the party vote that counts.

However, while winning seats doesn’t help a part get into government, it is still something that National takes seriously.

Labour is still trying to win city seats but like the wee parties, it’s making little effort in most provincial seats and in Waitaki it too appears to be running a Clayton’s campaign.

Jacqui Dean comprehensively won the seat for National at the last election and is working very hard to earn the electorate’s support in this one.

iPredict gives her a 92.5% probability of doing that in contrast to a .5% chance for the Labour candidate and .1% for any other candidate.

They should never have called it global warming

We went to bed with snow blanketing the garden and paddocks as far as we could see.

We woke up to rain, hail, sleet and icy tracks.

We were among the 1,700 farms which had to dump milk yesterday because the tank couldn’t get through and it might not get to us again today.

We don’t expect snow in the North Otago downlands this far through August, but it does happen now and then. It is far from normal in many other places such as Auckland where it last snowed 72 years ago.

The polar blast might or might not be able to be blamed on climate change. But they should never have called it global warming when this sort of weather feels like not just cooling but colding.

Is Labour out-greening the Greens?

Labour Leader Phil Goff was given points for turning up to Federated Farmers’ conference in a column in Feds’ Farm Review (not online) but the columnist wasn’t impressed with his message:

It doesn’t warm the belly that farmers will be ramrodded into the ETS to pay for R&D to research ‘cultural capital’. Goff has ripped the gust from any pretence the ETS is about efficient resource use because if farmers get better then ETS funded R&D collapses.

Any payments taken under the ETS not used to reduce emissions are merely another tax.

Labour’s ‘jump to the left’ increasingly resembles an essay by a first year political studies student. A capital gains tax on farms, repeal of the 90-days and GST free fruit and veg may appeal to the unions and the indolent, but not to the go-getters this economy needs. Then again Labour is electorally desperate.

Expect a land tax and crippling policies on the environment as Labour out-greens the Greens. It says a lot that Russel Norman was more warming received by farmers than Goff.

The Green Party has always out-redded Labour.

Perhaps Labour thinks there’s votes to be gained in out-greening the Greens.

What’s fair about long term dependency?

It’s not fair is the plaintive wail of children who don’t get their way and it’s also one of the criticisms of National’s policy to help keep young people from long term benefit dependence.

These are not adults equipped to make sensible choices and able to look after themselves.

They are among our most vulnerable teenagers.

Almost all  of them come from disadvantaged homes, some of them are caring for children of their own with little if any emotional or moral support. If no-one helps the parents the children will be disadvantaged too.

What’s better? Helping them get the skills they need to look after themselves and be independent or abandoning them to long term dependency?

It’s not fair that their families don’t care, it is fair that we do something about it.

This isn’t a short term money-saving measure. It will initially cost more but like a good investment the payoff will come later with social and economic dividends from those saved from long term dependency.

August 16 in history

1513  Battle of Guinegate (Battle of the Spurs) – King Henry VIII of England defeated French Forces.

1777  American Revolutionary War: The Americans led by General John Stark routed British and Brunswick troops under Friedrich Baum at the Battle of Bennington. 

1780 American Revolutionary War: Battle of Camden – The British defeated the Americans.

 

1792  Maximilien Robespierre presented the petition of the Commune of Paris to the Legislative Assembly, which demanded the formation of a revolutionary tribunal.

1819  Seventeen people died and more than 600 were injured by cavalry charges at the Peterloo Massacre at a public meeting at St. Peter’s Field, Manchester.

1841  U.S. President John Tyler vetoed a bill which called for the re-establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. Enraged Whig Party members riot outside the White House in the most violent demonstration on White House grounds in U.S. history.

1858 U.S. President James Buchanan inaugurated the new transatlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria. 

1859  The Tuscan National Assembly formally deposed the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.

1865  Restoration Day in the Dominican Republic which regained its independence after 4 years of fighting against Spanish Annexation.

1868  Arica, Peru (now Chile) was devastated by a tsunami which followed a magnitude 8.5 earthquake in the Peru-Chile Trench off the coast. An estimated 25,000 people in Arica and perhaps 70,000 people in all were killed.

1869  Battle of Acosta Ñu: A Paraguay battalion made up of children was massacred by the Brazilian Army during the War of the Triple Alliance.

1870  Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Mars-La-Tour reulted in a Prussian victory.

1888 T. E. Lawrence, English writer and soldier, was born (d. 1935).

 

1896 Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmackn and Dawson Charlie discovered gold in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush. 

1902 Georgette Heyer, English novelist, was born (d. 1974).

 

1913  Tōhoku Imperial University of Japan (modern day Tōhoku University) admitted its first female students.

 

1913 Menachem Begin, 6th Prime Minister of Israel, Nobel laureate, was born (d. 1992).

1913 – Completion of the Royal Navy battlecruiser HMS Queen Mary.

 

1914  World War I: Battle of Cer began.

1920  Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians was hit in the head by a fastball thrown by Carl Mays of the New York Yankees, and dies early the next day.

 

1920 – The congress of the Communist Party of Bukhara opened.

1929  The 1929 Palestine riots in the British Mandate of Palestine between Arabs and Jews. 

1930 The first colour sound cartoon, Fiddlesticks, was made by Ub Iwerks.

1940 Bruce Beresford, Australian film director, was born.

1940  World War II: The Communist Party was banned in German-occupied Norway.

 

1941  HMS Mercury, Royal Navy Signals School and Combined Signals School opened at Leydene, near Petersfield, Hampshire, England.

 

1942  World War II: The two-person crew of the U.S. naval blimp L-8 disappeared on a routine anti-submarine patrol over the Pacific Ocean.

1944 Council of Organisations for Relief Service Overseas (CORSO) was formed.

1944  First flight of the Junkers Ju 287. 

1945  An assassination attempt on Japan’s prime minister, Kantaro Suzuki.

1945 – Puyi, the last Chinese emperor and ruler of Manchukuo, was captured by Soviet troops.

1954  The first edition of Sports Illustrated was published.

 

1957 Tim Farriss, Australian musician (INXS), was born. 

1960  Cyprus gained its independence from the United Kingdom.

1960  Joseph Kittinger parachuted from a balloon over New Mexico at 102,800 feet (31,330 m), setting three record: High-altitude jump, free-fall, and highest speed by a human without an aircraft. 

1962 Pete Best was replaced by Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey) as drummer for The Beatles.

 

1964  Vietnam War: A coup d’état replaced Duong Van Minh with General Nguyen Khanh as President of South Vietnam.

1966 Vietnam War: The House Un-American Activities Committee began investigations of Americans who aided the Viet Cong. 

1972 Emily Robison, American country singer (Dixie Chicks), was born.

1972 The Royal Moroccan Air Force fired on, Hassan II of Morocco‘s plane.

1987 A McDonnell Douglas MD-82 carrying Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashed on take-off from Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus, Michigan, killing 155 passengers and crew. The sole survivor was four-year-old Cecelia Cichan.

1989  A solar flare created a geomagnetic storm that affected micro chips, leading to a halt of all trading on Toronto’s stock market. 

1992  In response to an appeal by President Fernando Collor de Mello to wear green and yellow as a way to show support for him, thousands of Brazilians took to the streets dressed in black.

2005  West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 crashed near Machiques, Venezuela, killing the 160 aboard.

 Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia

Riverstone Kitchen gains 2nd Cuisine Award

Riverstone Kitchen was judged first equal in the best casual dining section of Cuisine’s annual restaurant awards.

Riverstone which won the supreme award specialises in superb fresh food – most of which is sourced locally, including fruit and vegetables from its own garden.

If you’re travelling on State Highway 1, it’s about a kilometre south of the Waitaki River and about 20 kilometres north of Oamaru and well worth a stop.

Leave plenty of time to visit the on-site gift store.

Riverstone shared the award with Hamilton’s Palate. The supreme award went to Meredith’s in Auckland.

Word of the day

Graupel -  soft or granular snow pellets; soft hail.

Hat Tip: Afternoons