Did Helen Ever Write About Trade?

Brian Edwards book about Helen has a photo of part of an essay she wrote at school about communism and the Soviet Union. You can sense the sycophantic dribble on her chin - I'm struggling for an appropriate adjective. A million miles from reality ...

Poland's equality minister, Elzbieta Radziszewska, wants to expand a Polish law prohibiting the production of fascist and totalitarian propaganda ...The proposal, which could see the faces of some of the leading lights of communist history such as Lenin and Trotsky removed from t-shirts and flags, reflects a Polish view on communism far different from the rose-tinted and romantic images often found in the West.
After experiencing 40 hard years of communism, as well as the horrors of Nazi occupation, few Poles have qualms equating under law the inequities of Nazism and communism.

"Communism was a terrible, murderous system that claimed millions of lives," said Professor Wojciech Roszkowski, a leading Polish historian and member of the European parliament.
"It was very similar to National Socialism, and there is no reason to treat those two systems, and their symbols, differently. Their glorification should be prohibited."

Poles should know.

I'm also sure none of Helen's writings at school mention trade.

Do any Labour or Green voters get 'Trade'?

Simply by allowing nations to concentrate on producing those things that their geographic, climatic, and intellectual endowments best enable them to do, and to exchange those goods for what is best produced elsewhere, trade has directly propelled our global prosperity. (A Splendid Exchange. W Bernstein. 2008)

Apart from Mike Moore.

Mike ! Did you vote for Helen?

DB F#$ks Up

My loyalty usually sits with DB but they need to get off the grass over their position on Radler.

Names that define regions and styles should be protected but not monopolised and trademarked by anyone.

Good Luck to James & Wells Intellectual Property who have offered the services of their specialist intellectual property litigation group on a pro-bono basis to invalidate DB Breweries’ trade mark registration for RADLER.

Go Green Man Brewery !

Put the masks away

Are we at code white or red?

Swine flu may yet turn nasty, but 7 deaths rates way below our 11 road deaths last weekend, and for Mexicans, compared with their 7,000 drug related murders in 2008 doesn't justify the mania.

Lack of trust in institutions such as police (only 2% of Mexico's criminal cases are ever solved) will be contributing to inaccurate and chaotic appearance of their outbreak. Why would you report to authorities under these circumstances?

Yes a repeat of something similar or more deadly than the 1918 version will shade these stats, and justifies the close scrutiny.

The local media have really come into their own updating and providing perspective. Reporters interviewing positive quarantined travellers by phone while filming through windows is inspiring and reassuring. Great work people.

Give that man a...

"I got the gun and pointed it at him and said 'Don't move'. I fired the gun on the ground and he still tried to get the gun. I fired again. He said 'Ow'."

As you do.
Smaller than a .45 but ....

"the .22 LR is mainly used to kill small animals such as rats and squirrels.....It has been successfully used on large creatures such as coyotes, but range should be limited to no farther than 65 yards (59 m); head and chest shots are mandatory with the most powerful .22 cartridge the hunter can use accurately." (Wiki on .22s)

Apparently very handy for tagging the average "29-year-old man" trying to rob your Tokoroa takeaway.

Bogan Capital of NZ

Murph misses another corner, the kids get free entry but very quickly bored with the cars, speed, noise and...
don't notice promo girls.
No one buys their crap cars so no surprises they need to discount the gear. Yeah I know, 1,2 (and a 3) but only because they banned Volvo's and real cars from wiping them off the floor.

Best on the track? The Nissan GTR pace car.

"We're selling our spa pool. $300 will do."

Spa pools have a certain appeal as the temperatures drop and the nights get longer. I spent weeks freezing in the Waiouru tussock dreaming of the day I'd have another (different lover then :) and enjoyed many a dip since, but its taken till last week to own one.

"Get out of there and get to bed!"

29.4.09 Update. Got the electrician's bill today. $520 to hook it up! Must away and use the thing.

Is 14 years enough?

Not looking good for Mr Bullshit.

Wonder what price he paid for saying that.

The recent painting in the news will have reopened a wound for Mr and Mrs B.



Gaffe-prone Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi 72, landed in hot water two years ago when he reportedly told Mara Carfagna, Italy's 33-year-old minister for equal opportunities "If I weren't married, I would marry you immediately."


Understandable as was the reaction of Mrs B who publicly demanded an apology.

Interesting body language in the next pic, Mara's inner wrist exposed but not towards Mr B. Definitely a turn on though.
Looking away must help him focus on the content.


"Exposed wrists: If a woman is interested she will expose the smooth, soft skin on the inside of her wrists. She will also show the palms of her hand whilst talking."

W w w winter's here

This morning was the first of many where there was ice on the windscreen. I've worn a jacket for the 2nd time this year and there isn't any daylight after dinnertime.
Dogs, uneven kerbs and potholes are a pain during night runs so my new toy is f'n brilliant. I should have bought one years ago. The hinge allows setting the beam at different angles which is great when there is street light ahead but not close in front and spotlight mode is great for upsetting hoodie wearers in Te Koutu Park, all easily changed one handed on the run.
Bloody bright too.
I've even taken to wearing a fluoro vest - what a nana - but the fitness is getting there. I wonder how many people don't realise the human body is just perfect for a 10k run.

Pirates and Kidnappers

Well done to the US Navy.

Here is a Columbian example and response, again from The Cocaine Wars 1988

In 1981 , Columbian M19 nationalist guerrillas kidnapped Martha Ochoa, one of the three daughters of Don Fabio Ochoa of the Medellin Cartel.
The Ochoas did not pay. Their response was to call the first ever meeting (in Cali which was one of M19’s main bases) of all of Columbia’s most influential traffickers, all of whom, because of their vast fortunes, were now potential kidnap targets. Hundreds of fliers were distribute throughout Columbia, handed out at intersections and dropped from helicopters into soccer stadiums. Contents included:
“3..the 223 mafia bosses…agreed to finance…$4.4 million …to fight the practice of kidnapping, these resources will be used to pay for rewards, execution of perpetrators, and equipment…
4..we agreed to create a group called “Death to Kidnappers”…
5 Each boss has registered 10 of his best men and, therefore a total of 2,230 individuals will be involved in initial operations…
6..from this date, these individuals…will be carrying out the executions of all those associated with the practice of kidnapping…
7 Kidnappers will be executed in public…
9 directly with information on kidnappings…
11 Those kidnappers arrested by police will be executed in prison, if their whereabouts cannot be established, our people will act on their colleagues or the nearest relatives.
Please do not destroy this communique; exhibit it in public place”The manhunt was exceptionally brutal, even by Columbia’s standards. 3 months after her abduction Martha was relesed unharmed…“ reached an accomodation …whereby M19... performed chores for the traffickers.”

More recently, here is the situation in Mexico. Maybe I won't be in any hurry to go back to Tijuana or do the Baja 1000 - a fading dream.

More light reading….

From The Cocaine Wars 1988.

In 1979 DEA Intel Analyst Miguel Walsh estimated Columbia’s annual production of cocaine hydrochloride at 13,800 kilos, with a maximum base ingredient cost of US$625 per kilo becoming $9550 once processed. In transit to the US : $24000 and once inside the US $37000, cut 1:1 to 50% pure giving 2 kilos at $37k each for the ‘wholesaler’ to the ‘distributor‘ who cuts another 50% to 4 kilos which the ‘retailer’ then cuts into 8 kilos sold for $70 per gram. The $625 of cocoa leaves could fetch $560,000 on the streets of America and the 13,800 kilos produced per year estimated at $7,784,000,000 in potential revenues from a raw cost of $8 million …the most valuable commodity in the world.
In 1982 the purity on the streets averaged 12.5% cut 8 times (and cost $47 to $60k per kilo for any purity), in 1987 the average in Miami was 33% meaning cut 3 times (and now cost between $9 and $14k per kilo).

And…

“In early 1979 Bahamas Assistant Commissioner of Police Lawrence Major made a surprise visit to the island of Great Exuma 150 miles from the Bahaman capital Nassau and decided on impulse to search the light plane that had landed immediately before his plane. On board he found 247 pounds worth $2 billion at street value, the biggest seizure ever made at that time. Shortly after Major went to Black Rock, a deserted outcrop off the island of Grand Bahama where he discovered a cache of marijuana so enormous he had to pace it out to estimate its measurements: it was six feet high and more than two miles long.”

Book Review

I struggled to finish Robert Fisk’s The Great War For Civilisation The Conquest of The Middle East thanks to the many and unrelenting tragic stories. Find out for yourself about bacon slicers, gas elements and bed frames on pulleys :( Hundreds of personal experiences, many humorous, reward the effort as does the historical background he provides on Turkey, Algeria, Iran and Iraq.

The book hints at hope for the region, not least from Fisk’s long term residence in Lebanon and his respect for things Arab, but dependant on a change of American attitude that wasn’t going to come from George. Glaring examples include comparisons of conduct in Iraq with Geneva Convention requirements eg failure to record Iraqi military casualties: dead were bulldozed into mass graves with no attempt at identification (this IDing was done even for dead German SS soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge in WWII). Fisk’s arguments around use of cluster and bunker busting bombs on civilian areas (civilians being 'protected persons' in the GC) are also fair as is questioning acceptable collateral damage to get bad guys like Saddam and his sons.

In my teens I read Leon Uris’ Israeli/Jewish perspective in Exodus and Mila18, and I visited Anne Franks house and Dachau in my 20s but never bothered to take much interest in the Arab side of the story. For this the book is essential reading to balance the apparent ’eye for an eye’ madness condemning the region.
Don't skip this ***** book.