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Archive for 'National identity' Category
A Turn to Mean.
Posted on 14:04, April 12th, 2012 by Pablo
As I watched various labour conflicts over the past few months, then took in accounts of greed-mongering of various types (the wheel-clamping rort being the latest), I set to wondering if things have turned mean in NZ. I tend to think so, and believe a lot of it has to do with National's presence in government as well as the increasing stratification of NZ society–something National's policies tend to exacerbate. Some of this collusion is obvious, such as changes to labour laws that strip worker's of collective rights while enhancing employer prerogatives when hiring and firing (under the banner of so-called "flexibility"). Some is less so, such as in the "look the other way" approach to the conditions that led to the Pike River and Rena disasters and the hands-off government reaction to them. But the trend towards meanness began well before National returned to government in 2008 even if it has gotten worse under it.
It strikes me that the syllogism involved goes something like this: increased employment precariousness born of economic recession in climates of market austerity premised on cost-cutting in both the public and private sectors leads to increased anxiety, then desperation amongst the salaried classes as their life opportunities narrow. In the measure that collective means of defense and redress are also pared down and stripped of legal cover, agency takes precedence over principal to the point that individual rank and file interests are sacrificed in favor of continued union bureaucratic presence (however diminished) in those economic sectors that remain at least partially organized. In the measure that workers realize that their agents have adopted the "iron law of oligarchy" where bureaucratic self-interest and survival becomes the primary objective to which rank and file interests must be subordinated, notions of collective solidarity are abandoned in favor of individual self-interest. Since this is the dominant ethos at play in unorganized sectors of the economy and amongst the managerial and financial elites, the move to survivalist alienation becomes endemic (and indeed pandemic, if we include the fact that immigrants are socialized into the culture of meanness, thereby propagating the "disease" beyond its original culture). The original agents of transmission, in any case, would appear to be the market ideologues who have metastasized into the managerial elites of the present day.
When survivalist alienation becomes endemic, cultural, ethnic, religious and other forms of ascriptive categorization are used to justify the "me first" approach to social intercourse. Until then people may just be bitter. But this is the point when things turn mean.
I could be wrong and this has always been the case in NZ. My impressions are formed since 1997, so perhaps what existed before was indeed a land of milk and honey. But it seems to me, beyond the inter-generational inevitability of the trend towards hyper-individualism there lay a number of accelerants that have made things worse in the last ten years.
Urewera Terror: epic fail
Posted on 06:01, March 21st, 2012 by Lew
Whatever your opinion regarding the Urewera Terror raids, you have to admit that the Police and Crown Law have failed.
The so-called "Urewera 4″ were convicted on about half of the least-serious charges brought, and the jury was hung on the more serious charges of participation in an organised criminal group. The defendants may be retried on these latter charges, and they may yet be found guilty. But the paucity of the Police and Crown Law operation is pretty clear regardless.
Let's put this in context. The Crown sought initially to lay dozens more charges against many more people than the four who eventually stood trial; leave to bring charges under the Terrorism Suppression Act was not granted, and most of the other charges were dropped after the Supreme Court ruled that the evidence upon which they were founded had been illegally obtained. A year of fancy intensive surveillance; an extreme and unprecedented police assault on an unsuspecting community, including violent treatment of old people and children; four and a half years of lawyering comprising the most expensive trial in New Zealand history, held almost as far from the homes of the defendants as is possible; leaks and publicity tactics designed to bring about a de-facto trial-by-media — and the best they convict on is Arms Act offences such as about half the adult male population of rural New Zealand would be guilty of at some time or other? This, we are supposed to believe, is Aotearoa's finest at work.
Not only did they fail at the nominal objective of securing convictions, they totally failed at the personal, punitive motive of punishing Tāme Iti and shaming him before his people. Iti has been literally the face of Māori activism, at least since Hone Harawira took the institutional path, and it is impossible to see this trial as anything other than utu for his temerity in escaping conviction for previous acts of defiant political theatre, most notably shooting a flag at a Waitangi Tribunal hearing in 2005. By going in loud and heavy, attempting to show them uppity Māoris who was boss, the Crown set themselves an ambitious target: they had to actually show who was boss. By failing to convict him on the serious charges at a canter, they failed. Tāme Iti is now a celebrity. His mythology is greater than his deeds, except inasmuch as resisting such a legal and ideological onslaught with dignity is a significant deed in itself. He has, in the view of a significant minority of the population, been victimised by the system, and that victimisation provides proof of Crown oppression he had previously struggled to demonstrate. For the rest of the population, Iti represents a brown, tattooed bogeyman, an object of fear, and of loathing that ranges from mild to virulent depending on who you talk to. Iti isn't standing for office, he doesn't need to be loved by 50%+1; he just needs to engender fervent support among an active minority, and vague feelings of unease in the rest. Notoriety differs from fame only in its polarity. The Police and the Crown have granted Tāme Iti this sort of fame. He should probably thank them for it.
As if the particular and the personal weren't failures enough, the Crown also failed at the strategic project of redefining "activism" as "extremism". Despite all the preceding factors weighing in the Crown's favour, that a heavily-vetted jury was split indicates that they have failed to blur this crucial distinction, and failed to reframe left-wing and Māori activism* as a threat to civilisation, rather than a legitimate expression of dissent in an open society. This suggests that, in spite of years of Police infiltration and surveillance, of decades of stigmatisation and propagandisation of groups from Ngā Tamatoa to Ploughshares to SAFE, in spite of the better part of two centuries of official attempts to elide the gulf between dissent and insurrection, the public doesn't really buy it. The jury — and, I would suggest, the people of Aotearoa — quite like and value that distinction and although it is been somewhat eroded, there it remains.
For that finding alone, and regardless of the result of any retrial, yesterday was a good day.
* Māori and leftist because, let us not forget, the Right Wing Resistance are free to continue with their training camps and their pseudo-secessionist projects, unmolested.
Posted in An inclusive society, Authoritarianism, Crime, National identity, NZ Security, Propaganda | 12 Comments | Read More »
Servitor Imperialism.
Posted on 13:48, March 1st, 2012 by Pablo
Although the golden age of imperialism is long past, the early 21st century has seen a resurgence or perhaps a new form of imperialism in the guise of US-led expeditionary wars to "bring democracy" to rogue or failed states. Besides the wars of occupation waged in Iraq and Afghanistan, the not so covert intervention in Libya and ongoing US military activities in places like Somalia, the Sudan, Colombia, the Philippines and Nigeria suggests that far from being an outmoded concept, the notion of neo-imperialist supremacy is alive and well.
A lesser known aspect of imperialism is the role of servitor imperialists. Servitor imperialist were the colonial troops that deployed and fought for their imperial master. The Scots, Welsh, Australians and New Zealanders all played the servitor role for the British Empire, fighting and dying in places like Gallipoli where none of their core national interests were at risk. Unlike mercenaries, these servitor troops fought out of loyalty to the Crown rather than for money. Today the Gurkhas continue to do the same.
Other former great powers such as the French, Spanish and Portuguese also drew troops from their colonies as they attempted to hold on to their global possessions, albeit with mixed success.
In the 20th century the great wars can be seen as existential threats to the way of life of the servitor former colonies and colonial possessions. The Korean conflict and Vietnam war were less so, but the argument was made the global communism was an existential threat to Western capitalist societies and their allies in the developing world. So the servitor troops stumped up in them as well.
Today, it seems that the role of Imperial hegemon is played by the US, but the twist is that its servitor forces are drawn from allied militaries with UN backing and retain relative command autonomy in the field. Australia and New Zealand again are playing their historic role in fighting in conflicts which, if one removes the idea that the conflicts are about eliminating global terrorism, have little to do with their core national interests (and truth be told, while terrorism is a nasty tactic in an unconventional warfare strategy, it poses no existential threat to any but the most fragile of states, so using the threat of global terrorism as an excuse to join foreign conflicts is a bit of a stretch). Here too, the deployment of servitor imperialist troops is done out of allegiance rather than money: Australia and New Zealand perceive that there is an alliance obligation to help the US in its military adventures, one that may or may not be rewarded not so much in kind (as neither OZ and NZ face physical threats to their territorial integrity) but in other areas of bilateral endeavor such as trade or diplomatic negotiations more central to the servitor's concerns such as climate change or arms control.
In this era the term "imperialism" is fraught. But just because it has become a dirty word in some circles does not mean that it does not exist, or that the practice of playing servitor imperialists to other great powers is not ongoing. What has changed is the guise in which servitor imperialism occurs, with less Imperial ordering and more multinational cover given to the actions of less powerful countries who send troops to fight in the conflicts instigated by their Great Power allies. It as if there is a cultural disposition in some former colonies to want to serve the Master even if there is no longer a colonial leash tying them together.
Thus, for purposes of definition (there is a good body of scholarly literature on the subject), servitor imperialism is a situation where the natives and descendants of subjugated or colonized nations and sub-national political communities pledge fealty and serve in the wars of their Imperial masters even though no core interest of their homeland is at stake or in jeopardy. In the modern servitor neo-imperialist version, former colonies or subjugated nations send their citizens to fight in wars of the new Imperial hegemon when no core interest is at stake. The difference between this syndrome and a proper military alliance is that in the latter there is a common recognized existential threat that militarily binds countries together, whereas the servitor imperialist approach sees benefit in joining non-essential foreign conflicts instigated and prosecuted by neo-imperialist powers for reasons of their own and without regard to the core interests of the servitors. The syndrome is rooted in a cultural disposition to "serve" the master, whether it be old or new. Leninists might say that is playing the role of useful fool in international security affairs, but whatever the case the syndrome appears alive and well in some parts of the world.
I reflect on this because I have noticed a lot of pro-British chicken hawk rhetoric in rightwing NZ blogs about the current tensions with Argentina over the Malvinas/Falklands islands. For those unaware of the issue, in April we will reach the 30th anniversary of the 6 week war between the UK and Argentina over the islands. Although most Argentines have no interest in renewing hostilities and the Argentine military has made no moves to suggest a desire to retake the islands by force, right-wing Nationalists within Argentina have stepped up their bellicose rhetoric. Even thought the Argentine Right fringe is small, it has influence in some political circles, including with the governing Peronist Party. That has forced the government of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and some provincial authorities (since Argentina is a federal republic) to attempt to placate that part of the electorate with public and diplomatic complaints about the ongoing UK military presence in the archipelago (since the UK controls the South Georgia islands, also re-taken in the 1982 war). For its part the UK media has jumped on tits own Nationalist bandwagon, seeing such things as the Crown Prince's search and rescue deployment to the Falklands as a reaffirmation of the glory days of Pax Britannica.
Truth be told, although Argentina was ceded the Malvinas after its independence from Spain in 1810 (as Spain had control of them until then), the British presence extends back to the 1830s when the few Argentine whalers and sealers resident on the islands were forced off and the territory proclaimed British. British settlers have had a continuous presence since then and their descendants (now into their eighth generation) consider themselves British subjects. Since possession is 9/10th of the law and the "kelpers" as they are called consider themselves to be part of the UK, it is extremely unlikely that the islands will ever be returned to Argentina.
Argentines know this and except for the Right fringe, accept the verdict of history. In fact, the reason for Argentina's continued diplomatic protestations about the Malvinas/Falklands is that there are vast oil and natural gas deposits in the seabed around the islands, as well as the fisheries in adjacent waters. Now that technology allows for the exploitation of these resources, Argentines want part of that action. Extending Argentine territorial claims out to the islands (600 nautical miles off shore) allows the Federal Government to negotiate the commercial aspects of these potentially lucrative resource deposits, and for that to occur Argentina needs diplomatic backing for its claims. Needless to say, the UK has no intention of allowing that to happen.
Thus, while the kelpers are clearly disposed to play the role of servitor imperialists for the UK, it is a bit odd to read all the bluster and anti-Argentine rantings coming out of certain NZ rightwing circles. It is as if they retain their servitor attitudes long after the Empire has faded, something that, with a slight change in orientation, the National government appears to hold as well.
A question of citizenship.
Posted on 13:16, January 30th, 2012 by Pablo
I am a US citizen permanent resident in NZ. I got here on a normal (i.e. not a business or student) visa after going through a "good character" check and because there was an employer vouching for me. I am now beginning the process of taking out NZ citizenship and am amazed by the level of detail and bureaucratic hurdles I need to go through to get it after living in NZ for nearly 15 years (things like the names and last addresses of my long deceased parents and name and address of my long-divorced American ex-wife are just the start). The process is said to take 6-12 months and I need to surrender my US passport during that time. I guess that is a good thing as it verifies my bonafides.
I say this because I have read reports that Mr. Kim Dotcom, the Jabba the Hut of the internet world according to the US government, purportedly has a NZ passport. He also apparently has a Hong Kong passport as well as that of his birth country Germany. These are said to be legitimate, not fraudulent passports.
My understanding is that you have to be a NZ citizen to hold a NZ passport, and that applies even though one may have entered the country in the investor plus scheme by buying 10 million dollars of NZ government bonds. This makes me curious because Mr. Dotcom arrived in NZ in 2010, which means he was granted citizenship very quickly (as a contrast, a friend of mine of British birth lived in NZ for 30 years, married a Kiwi, served in various official roles including as a JP, and it still took him a year to get his NZ citizenship even though he has never been arrested anywhere and had several NZ people of import vouching for his good character). I am thus curious as to how, with his prior convictions and assorted other odd baggage, Mr. Dotcom managed to get a NZ passport so quickly, especially if there are residency and character requirements involved in acquiring citizenship and he is not claiming refugee status. I also wonder if he surrendered his foreign passports during the time his application was being processed because I have read that he traveled extensively after his arrival in NZ.
I also understand that in order to be an MP one has to be a citizen. I remember some minor scandals a few years back surrounding MPs who turned out to be non-citizens, something that forced their resignations. That also makes me curious because there is a new list National MP who may or may not be a NZ citizen as far as I know. He is a decent chap for a Righty and certainly will improve the intellectual calibre of the NAT backbenches, so good on him for making a go of it. But I am not sure that he is a citizen even though he arrived in NZ about a decade ago. I could be wrong and certainly harbor him no malice, but wonder if all the ticks were checked off on his citizenship prior to the election.
More generally, I am just curious about the flexibility of NZ citizenship laws and the process of granting citizenship because I too hope to join the NZ citizen ranks in the near future. Since I do not have 10 million bucks and am not the darling of any political party, can I instead run for local office with my PR status? I already own property, pay taxes, married a Kiwi etc., so if my citizenship application is rejected (presumably on "good character" grounds), can I still make a nuisance of myself at the local political level?
Posted in governance, identity, National identity, Parliament, Politics | 29 Comments | Read More »
A Culture of Impunity?
Posted on 15:16, January 27th, 2012 by Pablo
During the dark years of dictatorship in South America in the 1970s and 1980s, there emerged a phrase to capture the attitude of the elites who benefitted from such rule: the culture of impunity. It referred not only to the attitude of the uniformed tyrants who ran the regimes, but more to that of the civilian elites who gave them social and economic support, and who benefitted lavishly thanks to the repression and restrictive laws on basic rights of association, dissent and movement. These civilian elites literally lived above the law, since they could, if not be directly protected by the regime's thugs, be immune from prosecution or liability for crimes and other transgressions they committed simply because of who they were. Murders, rapes, abuse of servants, violent attacks on members of the public–all of these type of behavior were excused, ignored or bought off rather than be held legally accountable (I do not mention justice simply because it is impossible to have real justice under dictatorial conditions). Although there was variation in the attitude of some elites and cross-country differences appeared as well, the bottom line is that during the authoritarian period in South America a culture of impunity developed that was one of the salient social characteristics of the regimes in question.
With that in mind I ask readers if such a culture of impunity exists in NZ. I ask because it strikes me that although diluted and less repressive in genesis, there appears to be an attitude of impunity in the political and economic elite. They can buy silence and name suppression when they misbehave; with a wink and a nod they accommodate employment for their friends and provide sinecures for each other (think of various Boards); they consider themselves better informed, in the know, more worldly and therefore unaccountable to the popular masses when it comes to making policy (think of the use of parliamentary urgency to ram through contentious legislation and the NZDF command lies about what the SAS is actually doing in Afghanistan); they award themselves extraordinary powers in some times of crisis (Christchurch) while absolving themselves of responsibility in others (Rena). They use the Police for their own purposes (Teapot Tapes and Occupy evictions, the latter happening not because of public consensus but done by summary executive fiat). More generally, think of the lack of transparency in how government decisions are made and the duplicity of elite statements about economic issues (say, the price of wage goods) and political matters (e.g., recent internal security legislation). Coupled with equally opaque decision-making in NZ's largest publicly-traded firms, or the cozy overlap between sectors of the judiciary and other elites, the list of traded favors and protections is long.
None of this would matter if NZ was run by Commodore Bainimarama. It would just be another Pacific island state ruled by a despot and his pals. But as a liberal parliamentary democracy NZ regularly scores highly on Freedom House and Transparency International indexes, to the point that it is often mentioned at the least corrupt country on earth (which is laughable on the face of things and which raises questions about the methodologies involved in such surveys). To be sure, in NZ traffic cops do not take cash bribes and judges do not have prostitutes procured for them by QCs representing defendants, but corruption does not have to be blatant and vulgar to be pervasive. And in the measure that elite sophistication in accommodating fellow elites outside of the universal standards applicable to everyone else is accepted as routine and commonplace, then a culture of impunity exists as well.
My experience in NZ academia, two respectable volunteer organizations and in dealing with national and local government officials suggests to me that such a culture of impunity does exist. It may not be that of Pinochet, Videla, Stroessner, Banzer or Geisel, but it seems pervasive. It appears to have gotten worse since I arrived in 1997, which may or may not be the fault of market-driven social logics and the "greed is good" mentality that has captured the imaginations of financiers, developers and other business magnates (or it could just be a product of a long-established tradition of bullying, which has now spilled over into elite attitudes towards the country as a whole).
Mind you, this does not make NZ a bad place. It simply means that there is an encroaching, subversive authoritarian sub-culture at play amongst the NZ political and economic elite that undermines the purported egalitarianism and equality on which the country is ostensibly founded (I am sure there are sectors of Maoridom who will take reasoned exception to that claim). And if so, has the corrosive culture seeped into the body politic at large so that almost anyone is a relative position of power vis a vis others thinks that s/he can get away with behavior otherwise contrary to normal standards of decency and responsibility?
Does NZ has a culture of impunity?
Posted on 10:52, December 29th, 2011 by Pablo
When I moved to NZ in 1997, one happy aspect that I had not considered prior to arrival was that I was headed back to the Southern Hemisphere. That meant that Xmas and New Year's are summer events (well, most of the time), and my childhood memories are littered with snippets of summers gone by spent in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. Although I also spent many years in the Northern Hemisphere and came to embrace, within limits, the winter version of the holiday season, the prolonged interlude that is the Southern Hemisphere festive season has always been my preference.
In the winter version the return to work and school routines is quick, with no more than 2 weeks of down time usually taken between Xmas and New Years. The further North one goes the less incentive there is to holiday: the days are short, wet and very cold, when not frozen. In the South the turn of the year is a turn to warmth and light so the incentive is to maximize exposure to them as well as take respite from work and other daily routines. Annual and sick leaves are extended and mixed in order to maximize the statutory holidays. Commodified life cuts back to idle so that personal and inter-personal issues can be addressed and renewed at some length.
How one spends one's time depends on the nature and proximity of those relationships. I have spent several years of solitude, North and South, over the year end hiatus, which gave plenty of room to reflect on my condition while otherwise occupying time. I have had an equal if not greater number of holidays spent with family and friends, to include family in New Zealand. What strikes me in either instance is that the summertime makes the experience better: there is more to physically do outdoors, there is less corporate incentive to rush back to work, the nature of social events is more open, and things just get silly.
In a way, the Southern Hemisphere year end holidays are a turn inwards as well as renewal. The point of reflection and the pause to refresh are simply longer in summer. It may give the appearance to some (in the North) of a sleepy third world village approach to life. To me it simply represents a better way to spend a holiday.
Better than marching like lemmings to shopping malls and fighting grid-locked traffic in the search for a better bargain (which pretty much sums of the notions of commodity fetishism and false consciousness). The consumerist lemming movement appears to have taken root in NZ and the vehicular exodus to choice destination spots is often akin to driving across Manhattan at rush hour. Even so, in NZ as in other Southern Hemisphere locations, the summer holiday experience is preferable to that in the Northern Hemisphere. The global North may have the doldrums of July and August to disport in (and my exposure to Southern Europe in summer suggests that pretty much everything is put on hold for the duration), but they do not have the holidays to enjoy at the same time. The global middle–those from 20 degrees North to 20 degrees South–take their holidays more leisurely, given the distribution of pre-modern, modern, colonial, imperial and post-modern identifications.
Which is to say that I hope that NZ and other Southern Hemisphere readers are taking full advantage of their down time. As our first full summer back in NZ after 3 years away, my partner and I have spent the holidays quietly, mostly devoted to garden and landscape work, dog training, some small varmint hunting and the inevitable bbqs (although mine are done Argentine-style), with a little bit of reading and writing thrown in. Whatever suits your fancy and wherever you are, I hope that yours has been as restful as ours and wish you all the best for a productive and happy New Year, Southern Hemisphere style.
Posted in cultural difference, identity, National identity, This blog | 6 Comments | Read More »
Turning Negatives into Positives.
Posted on 10:00, November 4th, 2011 by Pablo
One of the more vexing problems in politics is to turn opposition to something into a virtue. Being anti-something is reactive and defensive rather than a path with which to move forward. It is the antithesis of a proactive, innovative posture where the power of a better future is conveyed in order to secure implicit agreement to the unspoken "Yes" latent in the electorate. The latter is a positive reaffirmation, often couched in crude nationalism or other symbols of consensus and collective identity. In contrast, the implicit or explicit "No" embedded in negative campaigns carries with it connotations of obstructionism, obstinacy and lack of vision.
The negative connotations of a "No" campaign suffer from a structural disadvantage when it comes to mass political psychology. All things being equal, it is harder to successfully engage in "No" campaigns rather than "Yes" campaigns, especially when the former is confronted by the latter in electoral competition. Negative campaigns can also be a sign of defeat. Although all political challengers must attack incumbents on their record, there are ways to do so in addition to simple rejection of the opponent's policies. In practice, opposition parties that fail to cloak their campaigns in a positive and proactive message are often conceding the outcome and using the electoral process for party rejuvenation rather than truly competitive purposes.
Yet it is possible for negative campaigns to convey a positive message. An example of a successful negative campaign is the opposition to the 1989 referendum on the nature of the Chilean regime. After 16 years of market-oriented military-bureaucratic authoritarianism, General Pinochet sought to continue as a civilian president in a "guarded" democracy installed by "controlled" elections. He and his supporters formed a political party to that effect, relaxed restrictions on the political opposition, and held a referendum that proposed that voters say"Yes" to constitutional revisions that would guide the installation of the "guarded" democratic regime. Pinochet and his followers banked on their control of the media and relative economic successes to ensure that the "Yes" outcome would prevail. The language of the referendum spoke to this fact by asking voters to vote "Yes" or "No" on continuing the unfinished process of national reconstruction under a Pinochet presidency.
Opposition to the "guarded" democracy plan came from a diverse array of groups, who preferred a full transition to democracy and the removal of Pinochet from politics. It did not necessarily have the support of the majority when the referendum campaign began, and besides the advantages accrued to the Pinochet regime, it was hampered by tight campaign regulations, lack of access to publicity, restrictions on public gatherings and the fact that many of its leaders were in exile.
Even so, the Opposition campaigners phrased their negative message so that a "No" vote was a vote for democracy as well as a vote against authoritarianism. It played on the knowledge that most Chileans understood that whatever its successes, the Pinochet regime was an aberration rather than a model, and that the price for its success was not worth the benefits supposedly gained. This organic understanding of Chilean "good sense" in the face of elite-purveyed common sense shifted popular perceptions of the referendum, and the "No" vote won a commanding majority. Confronted by defeat, Pinochet was abandoned by his supporters and the stage set for a fuller transition to democratic rule (I say "fuller" because the terms of the foundational election and the character of the political system for the first post-authoritarian decade were fixed by post-referendum constitutional reforms made by the outgoing Pinochet regime under executive fiat, which were heavily weighed in favour of the elites who benefitted from the Pinochet regime and which was backed by a military commitment to defend them. It was not until the 2000s (and Pinochet's death in 1999) that Chilean democracy was fully consolidated, and even then the structural and institutional changes wrought by the authoritarians and their successors skewed socio-economic and political power in favour of those who prospered under Pinochet).
Regardless of what happened later, the "No" campaign on the 1989 referendum succeeded in shifting the terms of the Chilean transition to democracy away from those preferred by the authoritarians and towards those of a long-repressed opposition. It is therefore a good example of turning a negative stance into a political positive.
The success of the 1989 Chilean "No" campaign might provide some insights for Labour as it enters the final phase of the 2011 election. Labour has staked its campaign on opposition to National's economic policies, epitomized by the "No" on Assets Sales plank. A little more subtly, the proposal to raise the retirement age is an admission that not all is well in Aotearoa. In other words, it is an admission of a negative, which is also the case for the repeated references to job losses via immigration to Australia. Most importantly, although Labour has "positive" planks in its electoral platform, these appear to be overshadowed (at least to me) by the negative aspects of its campaign. For its part, National can play the role of positive campaigner, using the upbeat character of the Prime Minister, the hopeful nature of its policy message (however devoid of positive content that it may be) and incidentals such as the All Blacks WRC victory to cement its pro-active and affirmative image in the eyes of voters.
Given the late stage of the campaign, it might be worth considering how Labour might cast its "negative" planks in a positive light. The key is to use the implicit "No" as an affirmation of Kiwi (as opposed to class or ethnic) identity, be it in its quest for economic and political independence or in its reification of individualism as a national trait. Here differences can be drawn with National on issues such as security policy, where National has basically subordinated its military perspective to those of Australia and the US, or on foreign investment in an increasingly deregulated domestic economic context, where National would prefer to ease restrictions on foreign capital flows into the country regardless of their impact on strategic assets, local capital or the integrity of resident labour markets and environmental conditions. Saying "no" to such things is not being obstructionist or reactionary, it is about reaffirming who we are.
I have no expertise in political marketing, but it seems to me that if the 1989 Chilean opposition could turn a negative campaign into a positive statement given the severe restrictions and disadvantages under which it operated, then Labour might consider how to cast its campaign in a way such that its opposition to National's policy proposals becomes a reaffirmation of Kiwi autonomy and independence. Other than that, it has little else to go on.*
* I am well aware that on economic fundamentals Labour and National are two sides of the same slice of bread, and that many National policies are mere continuations of those originally set by the 5th Labour government. My point here is to show that there is a way, however improbable, for Labour to rescue its election campaign.
Posted in comparative politics, Democracy, governance, History, identity, National identity, Politics, Propaganda, Uncategorized | 1 Comment | Read More »
Gaddafi is Gone.
Posted on 14:13, October 24th, 2011 by Pablo
The brutal end of Muammar Gaddafi's life marks a political new beginning for Libya. The circumstances of his demise speak volumes about the road ahead.
Gaddafi was summarily executed after being captured by rebel fighters (the term "rebel" rather than revolutionary is correct in that it properly places the armed opposition in a civil rather than revolutionary war whose outcome was largely determined by external interference). His non-military convoy was attempting to flee the rebel's final advance on Surt, his hometown, when it was struck by a NATO airstrike (in violation of the rules of engagement NATO publicly announced when it declared a no-fly zone that included attacks on land-based military targets that posed an imminent threat to civilians). Concussed and wounded by shrapnel, Gaddafi and a few loyalists took shelter in a culvert. They were discovered and some were killed then, while Gaddafi was dragged out and manhandled by a growing mob. Disarmed, confused, pleading for mercy and bleeding, at some point soon thereafter he was head shot at point blank range (images of his wounds show powder bruns at the entry point). He was not caught in cross-fire, as there was none.
Killing a captive after surrender or capture is a war crime, including in civil wars. The rage and thirst for revenge of Gaddafi's killers is understandable, but it shows a lack of discipline and foresight. Gaddafi and his inner circle could have provided valuable intelligence on a broad range of subjects, be it the terms of the exchange that led to the release of the Lockerbie bomber, the grey arms networks in which Libya operated, or the extent of Gaddafi's funding of influential Western agencies such as the London School of Economics or Harvard's private political and strategic consulting firm. Similarly, although the outcome would have been pre-determined, his trial would have provided the Libyan people with a facimilie of representative justice in which his crimes could be publicly aired, and which could serve as a foundation for a new justice system once the new regime was installed. Even Saddam Hussein was allowed that much.
The barbarism of putting Gaddafi's decomposing corpse on display in Misurata for public viewing speaks to the levels of distrust and base nature of the sectarian divisions within Libya. These will not go away simply because Gaddafi and his clan have been removed from power. The tactical alliance against his regime will not hold now that it is gone, and given that all of the main factions are armed, this raises serious questions about the political future of the country. The cross-cutting divisions are multiple and overlapped: Eastern versus Western, Islamicist versus non-Islamicist, Berber versus Arab, Benghazian versus Tripolian, urban versus rural, coastal versus land-locked, elite versus commoner, old royalist versus new upper class. Although the role of foreign military advisors and logistical support was crucial to victory, many rebel military commanders have carved out power centres of their own, and not all of the rebel political and military leadership are democratic in inclination.
The National Transitional Council (NTC) headquartered in Tripoli has announced the formation of an interim government within a month and presidential elections in 18 months. Both goals are very ambitious and the latter is inherently flawed. Imposing a presidential system in a multi-tribal society with no history of democracy and a long history of conflict is a recipie for authoritarianism, as political contenders will vie for and hold presidential power in pursuit of sectarian rather than national objectives. A parliamentary system with multiparty proportional representation would be a better fit given the realities on the ground, as it would force power contenders to negotiate and compromise in pursuit of coalition objectives, which in turn would put constraints on executive authority.
To put the issue in comparison, the Libyan polity is more fragmented than that of Iraq and does not have an occupying force that imposes transitional order and around which national opposition can coalesce. Iraq has a parliamentary system that recognises sectarian control of parts of the country as well as grant participation to key clans, and yet has yet to be free of violence or have fully cemented the institutional base of the post-Baathist regime. This portends darkly for the immediate prospects of a post-Gaddafi Libya.
The issue of disarmament and creation of a national military, to say nothing of disposition of Gaddafi's purported chemical weapons stores and other sophisticated armaments, is bound up in the negotiations over the interim government and rules of the game for the political transition. Given that NATO allies are not the only foreign actors involved in Libya, and given that some of these actors are non-state or state-sponsired in nature and have conflicting agendas with NATO, this means that the post-Gaddafi situation may descend back into conflict sooner rather than later. To this can be added the purge and reconstitution of the Libyan state as a functioning sovereign entity, a process that will also be driven by mindsets as much focused on the division of spoils as it is by notions of the common good. That overlaps with the issue of oil resource control and distribution, as well as the status of contracts signed during the Gaddafi regime, both of which involve tribal politics as well as the interests on non-NATO foreign actors such as China.
All of which is to say that the circumstances of Gaddafi's death tells us much about what the future holds in store for Libya, at least over the near term: chaos, violence and imposition rather than consensus, forgiveness, reconciliation and compromise.
Rioting Poms.
Posted on 11:57, August 9th, 2011 by Pablo
A short while ago we were treated to the spectacle of a Royal Westminster wedding, a royal tour of Canada and the US, then another lesser royal wedding. The UK and colonial media went crazy with 24/7 coverage of the fairy tale personae involved, and the image conveyed was of stability and continuity in British foundational politics. All was well in the Realm.
In the months since the first royal celebration things have grown dimmer. There is the hacking scandal in which politicians and the police appear to be complicit in the illegal tapping of private information by media corporations (primarily but not exclusively Murdoch-owned assets). Added to this sign of elite criminal coziness, now there is a police shooting followed by wildcat riots that represent criminal opportunism rather than outrage about the death itself. The UK media are swamped with reporters, police spokespersons and politicians all chanting in unison about the "mindless thuggery" and criminality of the youth who are widening the scope of violence beyond Tottenham and London itself.
The official emphasis on criminality cannot hide a number of things that depict a reality that s a far cry from royal bliss. The youth involved, while criminally opportunistic in their looting and vandalism, are a mix of ethnicities, but all seeming of working class or unemployed status (On TV I actually saw some young Hassidic Jews amongst the rioters in Tottenham). Some may have participated in earlier demonstrations and rioting about restrictions on access to higher education and the cost of basic services. They appear to be coordinated–in yet another tweeter and smart phone fashion–enough to stay a step ahead of the thinly stretched British Police. The fire service is not attending to full alarm fires because of fears for their security and the Police cannot predict when the next smash, burn and grab will happen. The mob is ahead of the Man, and the mob is angry.
So far the British government has declined to send in the army even though suggestions have been made that they have very robust anti-riot capabilities in Northern Ireland. The language used to justify that non-action is precious: the government states that it does not deploy such hard assets on British soil. So the riot police in London chase rioters using shields, helmets, horses and batons while the British Army uses armoured personnel carriers, water cannon trucks and live ammunition to keep the peace in Belfast and beyond. Some Imperial habits are hard to break, even though the Empire is long gone and its post-colonial consequences have come home to roost in the capital itself.
The hard fact is that the criminality of the rioters is a political act whether or not those involved or the government and corporate media would like to admit it. At a time when the PM, Police Commissioner, Mayor of London, and assorted other leading officials were on vacation in places like Ibiza, Tuscany and Milos, the youth now on riotous display swelter in the housing estates where unemployment, racial separatism, ethnic conflict and everyday economic insecurity are rife. Like their counterparts in any number of less developed countries, they can see up close the material lifestyles and commodity consumption of the royals, celebrities, sportsmen and corporate elites, but do not have (and likely will never have) the means of access to them. Worse yet, they live in a world where the institutional framework is stacked against them, leading to the violent turn inwards when the opportunity presents itself. The Police response is to ask parents to lock up their children.
Be it Marx, Luxemburg, Lenin, Guevara, Marighella, Ayman al-Zawahari, or Muqtada al-Sadr, revolutionaries understand the potential of the criminal mass engaged in collective violence. Lumpenproletarians are the street vanguard who, however unconsciously, help to bring social contradictions to a head and expose the weakness of the elite response and the inherent fragility (sclerosis?) of the status quo as a whole. Where instigated or abetted by politically conscious cadres (and there is some evidence of this at play here), their actions are designed to accelerate the organic crisis of the State, in which economic, social and political cleavages overlap and congeal into compound fractures not resolvable by force, reform-mongering or after-the-fact piecemeal pacification. Given the ongoing repercussions of the 2008 recession and the increasingly global debt crisis, and no matter how they are disguised by ethnic and religious division, the structural foundations for a larger class war in the UK may be fixing in place.
This does not mean that the British government will not be able to quell the disturbances this time around. But what these riots may be is a dress rehearsal for more to come, perhaps in conjunction with the Olympics next year, where militant planners accelerate the pace, focus and intensity of mass collective violence at a time when the British elite are exposed to global scrutiny and their security resources are already working at full capacity. That raises the issue of whether the official approach to rioters will shift to the more lethal Northern Irish "solution" set, and whether those charged with adopting a more lethal approach will have the ideological conviction to respond in such a way to the actions of fellow citizens rather than foreigners (I note that it will be possible for the official narrative to scapegoat "outsiders" drawn from minority ethnic communities that hold non-Western beliefs, but even that may fail to overcome foot soldier or beat police reluctance to turn their weapons on their own).
In any event, we should see the riots for what they really are: an expression of mass subordinate discontent and disaffection, the product of profound alienation, expressed through collective criminal violence operating in seemingly opportunistic and decentralised fashion in the face of official incompetence or lack of will. That, by most reasoning, is a good sign of a pre-revolutionary situation, one that has the potential to become more of an existential threat to the status quo should tactical guidance and coherent ideological justification be given to it. After all, if what we are experiencing is a crisis of capitalism in the liberal democratic world, then it was only a matter of time before superstructural conditions and precipitating events would combine into a violent rejection of the system as given in countries in which the societal contradictions were most apparent. Be it in Greece, in France, in Spain or now in the UK, should these contradictions continue to fester and combine, it will not be Tea Party-type clones that will lead the insurrectionary charge, nor will they be as polite.
PS: Before Red Dave and other ideologically militant readers opine that I am belatedly joining their ranks, let me state that I do not see this as the beginning of a global revolution or necessarily of one in the UK. It is a pre-revolutionary moment, which means that the UK government still has the ability to engage in divide-and-conquer, selective application of force and reform-mongering tactics (along the lines I mentioned with regard to the Arab uprisings in an earlier post dedicated to them). There is a fair bit of ground to cover before the Arab Spring gives way to a Red European summer.
Posted in An inclusive society, Crime, Democracy, Economics, Economy, Education, governance, Media, National identity, Politics, Social change, Toleration, UK, working class politics | 25 Comments | Read More »
By their works ye shall know them
Posted on 20:27, July 27th, 2011 by Lew
We are presently being treated to the rather undignified and unedifying spectacle of the political right — particularly the authoritarians and liberthoritarians — crying foul because people are drawing cautious, well-documented linkages between their own rantings and those of the Norwegian killer Anders Behring Breivik. We had a dry-run of this following the Tucson massacre. Russell Brown has NZ's most thorough treatment of this argument, and Peter Cresswell has NZ's most succinct whine about it, with links to more examples.
One such piece bears particular mention: by Merv Bendle, it was published in Quadrant, and questioned whether Breivik's attacks were "a covert, 'false-flag' operation, carried out to give just this impression that it was conducted by anti-Muslim, right-wing extremists, but actually conceived and directed by other forces?" Quadrant is edited by Keith Windschuttle, whose statements at a seminar given in New Zealand in 2006 (and chaired by Matthew Hooton) were quoted by Breivik in way that Windschuttle states is "not inaccurate or misleading. I made every one of these statements and I still stand by them." The argument is essentially that "civilisation" is under threat from "the perverse anti-Westernism of the cultural elite". There are many, many more such cases in overseas forums and I trust readers will have no difficulty finding them.
But Pascal's Bookie, in comments at the Dim-Post, has found the nub:
This is exactly it. The right-wing commonplace that "Western civilisation is under threat" is at the heart of all the rhetoric being compared to Breivik's nominal casus belli, and in many cases the similarities are more than merely cosmetic. This general line of argument has been popularised in its modern form by Samuel Huntington, but is much older in its essence (and I must note that Huntington's theory is considerably more robust than the arguments I'm talking about here.) The problem for the wingnuts presently whining about these comparisons is that their bluff has been called. They've been squawking about the existential threat posed by "others", much as Breivik has, but he has gone one better and actually done something about it. And so they must pick a side: either "Muslims" (or "Māori", "socialists", "teacher unions" or the "cultural elite" or whoever "Western civilisation" is at war with this week) actually are the existential threat the wingnuts claim they are, or they are not. If the former case is true, by their own logic the wingnuts would not only be justified in taking up arms in defence of their civilisation, they would be practically required to do so, as Breivik did. If the existential threat is real, they must hail Breivik as a hero. If they don't, we can assume there is no existential threat, and that they've merely been spouting melodramatic masturbatory fantasy this whole time.
By their works ye shall know them. If there really is an existential threat, as they claim, then surely we can expect the rallying cry "wingnuts of the world, unite!" to go up from the towers where they reside, and their legions pour forth with tacticool assault rifles, iPods full of Wagner and Muse and Mario Lanza, and neoprene bodysuits with faux unit patches on them. And if they do not, then surely by their own admission, there is no threat, and there never was.
I know which I'm picking.
Update: 'Nemesis' at Crusader Rabbit has answered the clarion call to action with …. yet more words. But they are fighting words:


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The dueling alien races of the Autobots and the Decepticons have brought their battle to Earth and the future of humankind is hanging in the balance. It's their war, but it's our world. Michael Bay's record breaking Transformers finally makes its way into cinemas on July 27, 2007. Check out our photos…
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'There was a time, not too long ago (relatively speaking), that governments and the groups of elites that controlled them did not find it necessary to conscript themselves into wars of disinformation.
Propaganda was relatively straightforward. The lies were much simpler. The control of information flow was easily directed. Rules were enforced with the threat of property confiscation and execution for anyone who strayed from the rigid socio-political structure. Those who had theological, metaphysical or scientific information outside of the conventional and scripted collective world view were tortured and slaughtered. The elites kept the information to themselves, and removed its remnants from mainstream recognition, sometimes for centuries before it was rediscovered.
With the advent of anti-feudalism, and most importantly the success of the American Revolution, elitists were no longer able to dominate information with the edge of a blade or the barrel of a gun. The establishment of Republics, with their philosophy of open government and rule by the people, compelled Aristocratic minorities to plot more subtle ways of obstructing the truth and thus maintaining their hold over the world without exposing themselves to retribution from the masses. Thus, the complex art of disinformation was born.'
'Built upon Thirteen Techniques for Truth Suppression by David Martin, the following may be useful to the initiate in the world of dealing with veiled and half-truth, lies, and suppression of truth when serious crimes are studied in public forums. This, sadly, includes every day news media, one of the worst offenders with respect to being a source of disinformation.
Where the crime involves a conspiracy, or a conspiracy to cover up the crime, there will invariably be a disinformation campaign launched against those seeking to uncover and expose the truth and/or the conspiracy. There are specific tactics which disinfo artists tend to apply, as revealed here. Also included with this material are seven common traits of the disinfo artist which may also prove useful in identifying players and motives.
The more a particular party fits the traits and is guilty of following the rules, the more likely they are a professional disinfo artist with a vested motive. People can be bought, threatened, or blackmailed into providing disinformation, so even "good guys" can be suspect in many cases.'
'During the last years, a new trend appeared in Hollywood: secret societies being at the center of movie intrigues. Some might find this surprising since secret societies are supposed to be…well…secret. Many people in the movie industry are part of those Brotherhoods so what is the reasoning behind this? We'll look at the myth Hollywood is trying to create by examining "National Treasure" and "Angels and Demons".
A decade ago, movies about Freemasonry or the Illuminati were rare and far apart (see here a nice list of Masonic references in movies). There has however been a major switch during the last decade. The world wide public has witnessed major blockbuster movies featuring those Brotherhoods at the center of the story. Their exoteric symbols are abundantly displayed and some of their history is even explained. Why are those societies exposing themselves to the average movie goers, who, for the most part aren't even aware of their existence? Isn't secrecy an important requisite for the survival of those orders?
I believe an important change is taking place in the communication strategies of these elite societies. The advent of the digital age, where any individual can create and publish content has rendered the secrecy of such organizations impossible. Self-published websites, books, documentaries, DVDs and other medias have exposed many secrets of Masonry and other orders. Information which could only be found in rare and exclusive books is now a Google search away. I have encountered some Masons who were astonished by the level of knowledge possessed by the "profane". Those types of Masonic scholars, who aren't actually initiated into the Brotherhood, were very rare not too long ago.
Since the digital switch is irreversible (and completed), occult orders have adapted their strategy to this new context (they've probably saw this coming years ago). The strategy is : "If they have to know about us, we'll tell them what to know". Through Hollywood and best-selling books, secret societies are being introduced to the average Joe but with one BIG condition: the public is given a distorted, caricatured and romantic portrayal of secret societies. We are introducing in pop culture a mythical lore around secret societies, associating them with fascinating symbols, treasures hunts and exotic adventures. The viewers believe they are actually learning facts about Freemasonry or the Illuminati and they leave the movies with a sense of wonder, fascination and admiration. Those feelings are however based on totally erroneous facts, dubious explanations and fairy tale story telling. After viewing those movies, the viewer has a positive predisposition concerning those orders and will be less inclined to believe and research conspiracies related to them.'
From pollution to politics, the era of deception and duplicity has reached new heights and hijacked almost every form of media in the world. In the last frontiers for truth such as the internet, disinformation operations are in full swing to discredit and destroy any semblance of authentic and factual information available to the public.


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World's Oldest Homeroom Mother
Recipes,Scrapbooking, Stamping, and Life in General!
Monday, November 18, 2013
Sparkly Christmas Card
One of my card this year. I used a retired Stampin Up set, shimmer and glitter paper. Some sponging
and coloring. You can't see the rhinestones sparkle in the photo, but it is pretty, shiny, and I have a few more to make.
Five weeks to Christmas, Ho Ho Ho
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Valentine fun today, goodies for the dear husband's office, treat bags and goodies for the grandson's classes and teachers gifts. A great day, lots of celebrating, and a big gooey pizza for dinner tonight.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Christmas is coming!!
Finally got a minute to post a picture. These are the ruffled scarves, very easy to make.
Go to youtube, pull up tutorials for starbella yarn, there are several to choose from.
The red scarf has metallic thread on the edge, those are a little stiffer, more fullness,
also the tutorial will tell you to pull up eight loops, I found eight made the scartf a little
"flimsy", needs more fullness, I pull 12-14 loops, and the scarf will be long enough.
Also, pull the yarn from the middle, this stuff twists, and you will have to drop the
ball a few times, and let the thread untwist. These are simple, fun, very cute. One woman
at Michael's told me she is selling these for $30.00. Now I would not pay that much for
a ruffly scarf, but I am pairing a couple of matching socks with these, and I think making
a nice gift.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
Three hours shopping, two cleaning, one hour decorating, three hours cooking. Two hours clean up after lunch. All time well spent so my grandson could put the finishing touches for dessert.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
I saw this recipe on the Taste of Home internet bb. Slutty brownies, rich gooey, and not WW friendly at all. But ya gotta live sometimes. Very easy, pat out a chocolate chip cookie mix in the bottom of 9x13, a layer of Oreos, double stuffed of course, then pour on your favorite brownies mix on top, and bake.
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Dungeness Crab Chimichanga
- 1/2 cup sliced green onion
- 1 pound fresh lump crabmeat, drained and picked
- 1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
- 1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- 2 cups baby spinach, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1/2 cup diced tomato
- 1/4 cup pickled jalapeño slices, drained
- 8 (10-inch) flour tortillas
- Canola oil
- Combine first 8 ingredients in a large bowl.
- Heat tortillas according to package directions. Spoon 1/2 cup crab mixture down the center of each tortilla. Roll up tortillas, making sure to fold in the ends.
- Pour oil to the depth of 2 inches into a Dutch oven; heat oil to 350°. Fry chimichangas in batches 7 to 8 minutes or until golden. Drain well on paper towels.
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Dungeness Crab Chimichanga Recipe at a Glance
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Deborah Sue (Johnson) Willman of Mashpee died on April 30 at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. She was 59.
She was the daughter of Barbara Urner Johnson and the late Gordon K. Johnson.
Ms. Willman was born in Seattle and spent the majority of her life in Bakersfield, California. She attended local schools, was in the first graduating class at Highland High School in Bakersfield, and earned a bachelor's degree in education from Chapman College in Orange, California.
After college she worked in the insurance industry and for the Bakersfield Police Department.
In her early school years she competed in track and field. She also participated in the USA Tour for high school students and the World Campus Afloat in college.
She enjoyed books, needlework and listening to music, especially musical theater. She loved animals, particularly her two shih tzus.
Ms. Willman moved from California to Massachusetts in 2013.
In addition to her mother, she leaves her children, twins Karen Willman of the Marshall Islands and Keith Willman and his wife, Stacy Willman, of Mashpee, and son Craig Willman of Richmond, Kentucky; two granddaughters, Taylor and Alexa Willman of Mashpee; and three siblings, Cynthia Johnson-George of McLean, Virginia, Lorin K. Johnson of Los Altos Hills, California, and Douglas Johnson of Boulder, Colorado.
Visiting hours are from 4 to 8 PM on Tuesday, May 6, at Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home, 74 Algonquin Avenue, Mashpee.
A funeral service will be held at 10 AM on Wednesday, May 7, in the funeral home, followed by burial in Great Neck Woods Cemetery, Mashpee.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the National MS Society at www.nationalmssociety.org/Donate.


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Black Eyed Peas to Split?
Possibly the biggest news since realizing there are in fact four black eyed peas.. are the rumors that have been flying all over the internet for months about the group's alleged break up.
The Black Eyed Peas have denied said rumors, but say they are taking a break from making music together for a while. ..But isn't that how it starts?
"We are not breaking up," band member Taboo told Reuters on Monday at a launch party for their video dance game, "The Black Eyed Peas Experience."
"We're going to take a little vacation and focus on our personal things," added Apl.de.ap, real name Allan Lindo, Jr. who will be focusing on his duties as ambassador for education in the Philippines.
Will.i.am told TV chat show host Ellen DeGeneres, in an interview to be aired on Wednesday, that the band "always have two cycles of records and then we take a break."
"When we take breaks you know, we work on side projects and get our personal stuff in order to then come back and make beautiful music," added the rapper.
The band will play their final concert before the break in Miami on Wednesday and will feature Marc Antony, Cee Lo Green, Flo Rida, Sean Kingston and Jason Derulo.
The four band members have all ventured into solo projects in addition to their music, including fragrance and shoe collections, acting, and philanthropic causes, which they will be focusing on during their hiatus.
Their video dance game on the Xbox 360 Kinect and Wii consoles allows gamers to learn the Black Eyed Peas choreography while seeing their progress captured on screen.
"I want them to get the excitement of actually having the Black Eyed Peas in their own living room," said Taboo.
The game is also a good workout regime. "We have childhood obesity, so it's a good way for people to work out while having fun," said singer Fergie
Do you think the peas will seperate for good? Or will they come around after they finish their "individual projects?"
And more importantly, have you seen Fergie lately? Maybe she should start taking her own advice..


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Let me first say that in NO WAY do I consider myself racist in ANY form....but when for some reason a copy of "Ebony" magazine came in my mailbox, and I read through some of the articles I was sooooo disappointed. It just makes me wonder...what would happen if someone started a "Ivory" magazine? Can you imagine? I'm SOOO not trying to be mean, but seriously....what's the difference?!
This the text version of "People of Walmart"I don't think so. I think there's a significant difference between mocking racists for being racist and mocking people with what you consider to be poor fashion sense for having what you consider to be poor fashion sense.
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The Fourth Amendment protects a citizen's right to privacy and any attempts to legislate otherwise are unconstitutional. The JBS opposes all legislation that interferes with privacy and calls for its repeal.
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Hiroko Fukatsu
Hi! I'm an ordinary housewife who loves knitting.
I live in Tokyo, Japan with my husband and black Shiba dog.
Huge earthquake and tsunami hit Japan in March 11, 2011
I am donating all sales of my pattern to the Japanese earthquake and tsunami relief until the end of March 2012. Thank you for your kind cooperation!
It ended at March/31/2012. Thank you for your kind support over a year! Reconstruction of the affected areas has just begun. I hope that you will continue thinking for the disaster victims.
Report blog


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As holiday displays go, it's hard to top the one at the top of the hill in Salt Lake City's Avenues neighborhood.
Dubbed "Frosty's Winter Wonderland," this display of lights, figurines and inflatables takes over an entire house and yard at 805 E. 18th Ave.
|Join the Discussion
|Post a Comment
The house's owner has accumulated the lights — and the increasingly rare illuminated plastic figures — for 20 years, and spreads the word about the display on a Facebook page.
If you venture up the hill to see the show, don't forget to turn around for a bonus light show: The gorgeous view of Salt Lake City at night.
Copyright 2014 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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The GREATEST HITS of ALL TIME When you hear a great song, you can think of where you were when you first heard it, the sounds, the smells. It takes the emotions of a moment and holds it for years to come. It transcends time. In essence the emotion and energy a great song can evoke is what makes it timeless and precious.
Crusin' With the Captain
Get on board on a great cruise!
Better hurry the cabins are going quick. The Captain willbe taking you on a musical cruise with some great performers. Concerts At Sea,WMCE 88.5FM and Mercyhursy University are pleased to announce special guest Tom Garrett, current lead singer of the Classics IV joining us on the 22nd Annual Where The Action Is Cruise along with Paul Revere & The Raiders, The Guess Who, The Buckinghams, and The Lettermen! The cruise of a lifetime Jan.17th,2015
Monday thru Friday 12-6am Big Al Knight
6am-10 Captain Dan
10-2pm Julie Ellis
2-7pm Commander Bill
7-12 Johnny Holiday


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If you missed this bit - K and T have SEX (Strictly above 18 - VIDEO)Entertainment News 11:37
At least keagan gets a penile enlargement with the money....stupid one minute man
When i see this Keagan guy my pussy just becomes wet to the point of dripping!
Cant blame Talia hapo!
Talia I envy you. Keagan is a sweet guy and I believe he will still be there for you even after the show. It is unfortunate you had to loose votes because of your conduct. The woman will always have to be judged negatively when such a thing happens. That's our society and we just have to learn to live with it.
whts th big deal,though beneath th duvets i stl cldnt resist imagining wht sh had...mmmmg gal
yaaani,south africans go for only 2minutes,so sorry for the zambian gal!!!!!
If it comes wet, add me up lemme giv u a bonk of ur life 2924F7FC_ iamTheAfricanMonsterCock
2012 The Kenyan DAILY POST. All Rights Reserved. - Designed by Denno


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IRVING, Texas. – The staff writers of DallasCowboys.com shared their initial feelings after the Seahawks' dominant 43-8 victory against the Broncos in the Super Bowl.
Nick Eatman: Haven't been this wrong since thinking
Rowan Kavner: I thought the Seahawks would be able to withstand some of the Broncos' offensive firepower, but no one would have predicted it would have gone that smoothly for the Seattle defense. No one would have predicted Russell Wilson would outplay Peyton Manning. When that's happening, you know it's not going to be close. And it never was. I predicted the Seahawks would eventually pull out the win. But I thought if this game was going to be a blowout, it would have been the other way around. This game was a rout, literally from the first play of the game on an unanticipated safety from the most dynamic offense in the league led by one of the greatest quarterbacks to play the game. Seattle's defense is something fierce, even against the best offense this league has seen.
Bryan Broaddus: My thought going into this game was the Denver would be able to finds ways to move the ball with their passing attack and the running of Moreno but that wasn't the case at all. The Seattle defense came ready to play like they had all season and were able to get Manning off the field early in the game on 3rd down. The turnovers that the Seahawks were able to create also played a large role in the outcome of the game. Where the Broncos had been beating opponents all season was their ability to stay on the field and finish drives but this Seahawks defense with their front four and physical secondary prevented that from taking place. Hats off to Dan Quinn and this Seattle defense, it was your night to shine.
David Helman: Well, I couldn't have been more wrong about that. I really thought Peyton Manning was going to cement his legacy as the game's best quarterback at MetLife Stadium. He's still a fantastic signal-caller, but the Seahawks made him look horrible in an absolutely dominant defensive effort. Seattle's nasty defense forced turnovers, and more importantly, the Seahawks made life miserable for every Bronco who touched the ball. On top of that, Russell Wilson turned in an efficient, if not entirely amazing performance. It was really an amazing game across the board -- Seattle scored touchdowns on offense, defense and special teams. There isn't a single doubt about who the NFL's best team was this season.
Here were the gut feelings for Nick Eatman, Rowan Kavner, Bryan Broaddus and David Helman, posted Friday.
Nick Eatman: This is a classic matchup between the NFL's best , and best defense. People that believe defense wins championships will have a great argument if Seattle wins. There's no denying that great defenses will put you in position to win. But something tells me this is just Peyton Manning's year. I've always thought he's the best QB in football. He has just one Super Bowl ring, half as many as his brother. There's something very wrong about that. But the fact Eli won his second Super Bowl in Peyton's house lets me think Peyton is going to win his second one in Eli's house. Give Manning two weeks to figure out Seattle's scheme, which really isn't that complicated to start with, and I think Denver has the edge. We all remember what the Cowboys did to Denver through the air, but not really on the ground. I don't think Seattle is capable of having that kind of offensive explosion on Denver. I see the Broncos winning it 30-17 and Richard Sherman gives up a touchdown pass to Deymarius Thomas in the first quarter.
Rowan Kavner: A Super Bowl championship would be the cherry on top of Peyton Manning's unheralded season, and it's rarely wise to pick against that guy, particularly with all the weapons at his disposal that Dallas fans know about all too well. But if there's a defense equipped to stop that aerial attack, it's the Legion of Boom in Seattle. Most of the pregame talk is understandably on Richard Sherman, but I think it'll be another corner, Byron Maxwell, who'll garner the postgame chatter. I expect Manning to test the side opposite Sherman most of the day and Maxwell to get a pick. If Denver gets up early, it's over, but I expect the score to stay in the low-20s and benefit Seattle. Percy Harvin returns and scores a touchdown, while the Denver defense struggles to slow Marshawn Lynch, who bowls in for a late go-ahead score. Don't underestimate Steven Hauschka, either. Maybe the Cowboys keeping it close against the Broncos early in the season is weighing too much on my mind, but the Seahawks are "just 'bout that action, boss," and I expect they'll prove it by pulling out a late 23-21 win.
Bryan Broaddus: The focus will be on both quarterbacks in this matchup between the Broncos and Seahawks but this game will in my feeling come down to which defensive coordinator puts his players in the best positions to make plays. It's not hard to respect the work that Dan Quinn has done with this Seattle defense but my gut feeling is that Jack Del Rio and his troops will expose Russell Wilson's inability to throw the ball consistently enough to keep pace with the Broncos, who will find ways to score and put pressure on the Seahawks to try and keep up, which they will not be able to do.
David Helman: I'm going to buy into the hype. I'm aware that "defense wins championships," and I'm aware that it's only been four years since Peyton Manning threw an interception that lost his team the Super Bowl. But Manning has a chance to put a stamp on the greatest season by a quarterback in the history of the sport on Sunday, and I don't think he's going to let it slip away. The Seahawks are going to make it difficult, and I'm going to go on the record and say that Richard Sherman – or at least one of the members of the Legion of Boom – gets a pick on Manning. I don't think the Seattle offense can keep pace with Manning and Co., though. My guess is the Broncos win, 27-17. I think Montee Ball scores the touchdown that puts Denver in front for good.


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Mad Betty's SXSW 2015 Panel Picks
SXSW 2015 is months away, yet it's time to start thinking about it. South by Southwest hopefuls have submitted their ideas for next year's conference and now the community gets to vote for their favorites.Votes account for about 30% of the decision and it's a highly competitive arena. I submitted a proposal among the 3,000 others in the interactive category and am crossing my fingers that we make the cut. And you can help by checking out the panel picker and giving thumbs up to my entry and any others you'd like to support. Even better, leave a comment and contribute to the conversation in the SXSW Panel Picker.
My panel New Journalism: Black & White & Reddit All Over (which can also be accessed by clicking on the web tile just to the right) will be a conversation about the (often contentious) relationship between bloggers and traditional journalists. We'll seek to address issues about credibility and bias among writers, and about how people get their information today. The part that excites me the most is the prospect of exploring these issues with two people I respect very much: Corrin Foster and Mike Sutter. So please, give us a thumbs up and share in the comments what interests you about this panel.
Another panel I'm also pulling for You Can't Sit With Us: Craft Beer Subculture, is about the exclusionary attitude that can take place in craft beer culture. Mr. Betty put together this one with other knowledgeable people in the craft beer community. As someone who sits on the fringe of craft beer culture, I'm intrigued by this topic.
You'll notice that the panel What Every Marketer Should Learn from Weird Al has generated a lot of buzz and for good reason. This crossover of innovation, business, and art is what SX is all about and Jason Wesbecher is just the person to speak about it. This one's going to be popular, you guys.
Crowdfunding for Causes (Without Losing Friends) is a great topic and very relevant to me. I happen to know a lot of brilliant, ambitious people who are often looking for funding. Amanda Quraishi has one of Austin's biggest hearts and actively advocates for the causes she believes in.
In a discussion about a topic that affects all of us, Addie Broyles will interview the Supermarket Guru about the future of grocery stores. Addie's a pro interviewer and always gets right to the heart of what people want to know.
A related topic, Building a Better Breakfast, will focus on sustainability and making healthy eating affordable. This will likely draw a big crowd who want to see Andrew Zimmern speak.
And, here are a few more fun ones that I'd like to see happen:
No More Kittens! Content Marketing for Social ROI
NASA's Next Giant Leap: The Path to Mars
KU! What Makes Asia Such a Pop Culture Powerhouse?
Is Pop Culture Binging a Good Thing?
When Did Spoilers Start to Matter?
Social Media Celebrity: Audience vs True Influence
Hamburger Helper is My Bae: Weird Brand Twitter
Those are my picks! I, and my fellow SXSW submitters, would be so grateful for your votes. It doesn't take much to set up an account and vote, just an email and password. (And SXSW doesn't bombard you with emails; I think I get two a year…if I submit.) Voting closes September 6, 2014.
Did you submit a panel? Please leave a link in the comments so we can vote for you.


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Taste Of Louisiana With Chef John Folse & Co.:
ROASTED PHEASANT WITH RED CABBAGESeries Website »
Episode Guide »
Wild Rice and Pheasant Soup, Roasted Pheasant with Red Cabbage and Pheasant, Tomatoes and Nuts.
Vermont transplant and Guster frontman Ryan Miller seeks out far-fetched friends across the state! Available exclusively online.
Check out winning Vermont entries to the 2014 PBS Kids Writers Contest!
Tons of videos and games for children from PBS!
PBS Kids - Tons of videos and games for children from PBS!
Educator Resources - Lesson plans, online courses, and videos for teachers and parents.


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KALAMAZOO (WKZO) -- Michigan's firearm deer hunting season is underway and the Department of Natural Resources the sales of permits shows it is still a popular sport.
"Just a couple of days ago, we already had 540,000 folks buy a license for this year," the DNR's Brent Rudolph tells WKZO. "That was up a little bit from the year before."
Rudolph said hunters will likely see some effects of the EHD outbreak in the area, though it may depend on where they choose to hunt.
"It's so highly concentrated, where they die-offs occur, even a little bit away [from a chosen location], people might not notice any difference at all" in the deer population, he said.
A record number of deer have been killed by EHD this year.
The DNR believes the spread of EHD is minimized now that colder temperatures are settling in during the evenings, which hampers the life span of the midge, which transmits the disease to deer.
The disease does not affect humans or household pets.
The DNR reminds hunters there are certain rules they should follow when participating in firearm season.
"Back in the day, if [the property] was not posted, you could go out," Rudolph said. "Today, you need the permission of the property owner."
Of course, hunters could choose to hunt on state land.
"We have quite a few...state game areas, which are state hunting lands, in southern Michigan, so there's lots of opportunity," Rudolph said.
Firearm deer season ends at the end of November.
To hear the whole Rudolph interview from The Lori Moore Show, click here.